Have You Seen Me? — Laura Denham

Laura Denham's first novel about a young woman's willful descent from part-time stripper, to self-employed prostitute, to low-rent S and M film star adroitly sidesteps the expectations inherent in sex-industry tell-alls, opting instead for an aesthetic closer to the edgy, skillfully composed narratives of Mary Gaitskill and Jennifer Belle. Juliet McKenna, the novel's protagonist, heads to San Francisco just after college, filled with a mix of restless audacity and vulnerability. Her peculiar disposition proves to be relatively harmless at first: topless dancing at the Cherry Tree. But she quickly succumbs to the lucrative possibilities offered by the more insidious elements of the business. Written in concise, thoughtful prose, Have You Seen Me? details Juliet's exploits with lonely hedonists and sex-crazed reprobates; from Mary, the speed snorting methadone nurse turned born-again environmentalist, to Monty, the bondage-enthusiast son of a Jesuit priest, Juliet sits comfortably amongst inhabitants of an odd world of sleaziness and aspiration. Yet, even as Juliet's corrupted endeavors bankrupt her spirit, the possibility for renewal remains. And while her eventual regeneration at a commune of radical environmentalists (whose terrorist activities are unbeknownst to her) provides for an entertaining twist in her story, Have You Seen Me? remains a deeply affecting novel about the uncertainty and loneliness of the human soul.