“A beautifully written memoir of life on the Broadway stage at the onset of the 1980s AIDS epidemic . . . Compelling, and remarkably hopeful.” —Mara Liasson, National Political Correspondent, NPR
A moving, real-life account of making it as a dancer in New York City, embracing the changing faces of love and family, and being at ground-zero for one of the most fatal epidemics of modern times . . .
Wanting to be a dancer while growing up in a large military family made Christine Barker somewhat of a black sheep, but she followed her dreams to New York City, where—in a moment of almost unbelievable good fortune—she was chosen for the London cast of A Chorus Line.
London, and then New York, in the seventies and eighties opened up Christine’s world. The creativity, culture, and nightlife were intoxicating, enough so to compel her older brother Laughlin to join her. Once there, the divorced father, veteran, and corporate lawyer met rising fashion star Perry Ellis. Romance and success soon followed—as well as rumors of a devastating new disease . . .
Broadway’s theater community is ravaged by loss as the AIDS epidemic takes hold, and Christine is shocked by the toll it’s taken on her inner circle. Holding on tight to friends and loved ones left behind, the crisis becomes a crucible moment for her family and for all of society. And Christine is once again forced to go her own way to make sense of the tragedy.
“A heart-rending debut infuses a graceful personal narrative with cultural history. . . . Third Girl From The Left is a timely chronicle of vulnerable people who are marginalized by their government, ignored by the media and maligned by a ‘moral majority’ whose echoes reverberate in today’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ era. . . . Barker’s memoir becomes an elegy—for the third girl on the left, and the men she loved so well.” —New York Times Book Review
