Small kingdoms

"In the summer of 1993, 15-year-old Ellie Stein witnesses the unthinkable: her unflappable single mother hears a news report about the death of a New York-based photographer and spills dinner everywhere. Jessamyn has always refused to say much about Ellie's father, or her past life as a model in New York-but as her mother struggles to cover up her distress, Ellie begins to draw conclusions. With her best friend, Celia, she embarks on a quest to learn about the dead photographer, and quickly unearths a story-and a family-she never imagined. At age 21, in 1973, Jessamyn Stein knows she's not meant for college-or for the California life so many of her classmates find so seductive. She hitchhikes from Michigan to New York and finds herself working first in the music clubs of the downtown scene and then as an in-demand fashion model. But as Jessamyn tries to decide who she is, her life in the city is shaped by violence, and by encounters with a fixer and dealer named Joe, who rescues her from a mugging but who comes with dangers of his own.