At 17, Zoe Hansen ran from London to New York City. It was the flaming height of the 1980s, and Manhattan was a wildly fantastic world for this young British girl. After talking her way into a job at MTV she plunged into the downtown scene – at one point cutting Andy Warhols “hair” (actually a wig, which he insisted on wearing while she snipped) Soon enough the dark side called, again, and she traded hair for heroin. Struggling to support her lifestyle, and habit, she found employment as a sex worker. In vivid detail, Going Down in Gotham, recounts her sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious, never less than fascinating journey from streetwalker to escort, dominatrix and masseuse, to madam of five brothels. Along the way, we meet a rogue’s gallery of characters, reliving every close call and crazed situation in a voice as insightful and soulful as it is unsparing and irresistible. Where she ended up may be the most remarkable detail of all. Going Down in Gotham marks the arrival of a new Voice in Literature. The miracle is she survived to write it.
