Detalles del libro
Formato
Tapa blanda
Páginas
192
Idioma
Inglés
Publicado
Sep 4, 2026
Editorial
Journalstone Publishing
ISBN-10
1685101828
ISBN-13
9781685101824
Descripción
“An impactful, unforgettable read...it portrays a tumultuous time in America and a redefining time for New York City.” — Independent Book Review
When a drag queen rescues a teenage hustler in 1981 New York City, it ignites a decade-long saga of prostitution, heroin, AIDS, murder, and supernatural reckoning—told by a child of Holocaust survivors who carries the dead on his tattooed arm and is learning that just surviving isn’t always enough.
West Village. Summer 1988. A city in financial ruin, on its way to breaking a homicide record, collapsing under the weight of AIDS and crack, dying with no end in sight. In a forgotten strip of the West Village waterfront, abandoned piers sit in disrepair, decaying from neglect, but providing shelter for disenfranchised queer youth of color. On Pier 45, the Christopher Street pier, a drag queen named Mother looks after her “children,” a group of hustlers and addicts that form the basis for her crime family.
It is into this world that Seth Horwitz stumbled one night seven years earlier, sixteen years old, orphaned, addicted, brutalized to the point of death—he finds his way to the pier, and to Mother Margaret. A child of Holocaust survivors trying to make it on the street, his encounter with Mother begins a saga that takes him deep into a world of prostitution, heroin, crime, and murder. As AIDS began to ravage the West Village, Seth’s world collapsed under the weight of illness and addiction, but he survived when few did; the last one standing.
Now clean and sober, his tightly constructed world of Narcotics Anonymous meetings and work at an AIDS hospice across the street from the piers—his penance for surviving—is beginning to unravel. He’s burned out by the unending loss, he relapsed, he is second-guessing the Auschwitz survivor tattoos that cover his left arm, and he is haunted by surreal hallucinations that put him in harm's way and stretch his understanding of reality.
From memorable encounters with Rudolph Nureyev, Maya Angelou, and Allen Ginsberg, to the violence of the Tompkins Square riot, Pier 45 spans a tumultuous decade in New York City when a generation was wiped out and gentrification changed the heart of the city.
When a drag queen rescues a teenage hustler in 1981 New York City, it ignites a decade-long saga of prostitution, heroin, AIDS, murder, and supernatural reckoning—told by a child of Holocaust survivors who carries the dead on his tattooed arm and is learning that just surviving isn’t always enough.
West Village. Summer 1988. A city in financial ruin, on its way to breaking a homicide record, collapsing under the weight of AIDS and crack, dying with no end in sight. In a forgotten strip of the West Village waterfront, abandoned piers sit in disrepair, decaying from neglect, but providing shelter for disenfranchised queer youth of color. On Pier 45, the Christopher Street pier, a drag queen named Mother looks after her “children,” a group of hustlers and addicts that form the basis for her crime family.
It is into this world that Seth Horwitz stumbled one night seven years earlier, sixteen years old, orphaned, addicted, brutalized to the point of death—he finds his way to the pier, and to Mother Margaret. A child of Holocaust survivors trying to make it on the street, his encounter with Mother begins a saga that takes him deep into a world of prostitution, heroin, crime, and murder. As AIDS began to ravage the West Village, Seth’s world collapsed under the weight of illness and addiction, but he survived when few did; the last one standing.
Now clean and sober, his tightly constructed world of Narcotics Anonymous meetings and work at an AIDS hospice across the street from the piers—his penance for surviving—is beginning to unravel. He’s burned out by the unending loss, he relapsed, he is second-guessing the Auschwitz survivor tattoos that cover his left arm, and he is haunted by surreal hallucinations that put him in harm's way and stretch his understanding of reality.
From memorable encounters with Rudolph Nureyev, Maya Angelou, and Allen Ginsberg, to the violence of the Tompkins Square riot, Pier 45 spans a tumultuous decade in New York City when a generation was wiped out and gentrification changed the heart of the city.