White Lines

At 17, Cat is on her own in New York City’s East Village. She has fled the penthouse apartment where her abusive mother lives, and it’s easier for Cat’s emotionally distant father, who lives in Connecticut with his girlfriend, to pay Cat’s rent downtown than to admit that his ex-wife is dangerously angry. Ensconced in the club-kid world of the late 1980s, Cat works the door at Tunnel nightclub and is increasingly dependent on cocaine to get her through long nights followed by days at her second-chance high school. Things pick up a bit at school when Julian transfers in, and Cat does have a few friends looking out for her, but she’s being pulled deeper into the scene, especially now that her boss has started hitting on her. Banash’s Elite series takes place on the Upper East Side, and she knows N.Y.C., but Cat doesn’t feel like more than the sum of her many problems. When she finally pulls herself out of her downward spiral, it’s not especially surprising: she’s a familiar character and this is a familiar arc. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)