Kate from Jules et Jim meets I Love Dick. A fiercely feminist novel cataloguing the innumerable obstacles encountered by young women in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ana Fried is a struggling filmmaker fighting to step out of her mother’s shadow. While researching the essence of Indian goddesses at Mount Abu for a film she was writing, a bout of malaria sends her back to her childhood suburban home. In her fever dreams, she relives her time at Yale during the early years of coeducation, where she first fought the many men who refused to take women artists seriously.

Ana’s filmmaking journey takes her from the high-stakes New York art scene to the gritty blues clubs of Memphis. Along the way, she navigates toxic relationships and “mentors” who try to control her talent.

Ana returns to Manhattan to finish her film, The Cyborg Goddess, and stop playing it safe. Confronting the ghosts of her past, she determines to finally stop letting others define her and claim her own voice.

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman is a powerful #MeToo story from a different era, exposing the dark side of sexual liberation and the systems designed to keep women small and under control. This novel will inspire anyone who has ever dared to choose their art to live a true life of independence and personal empowerment.