Limelight – Andrew Keenan – Bolger

“You said it yourself,” he declared as they left the Imperial Theater the previous evening. “How can we call ourselves New Yorkers if we’ve never been to Staten Island?” “No, I—” But before Danny had time to squash the insane, impossible, potentially mortally dangerous idea, Christian was already making plans.

“We showed you our city today. It’s only fair for you to return the favor tomorrow.” “I’d be interested,” Astoria chimed in. “From a purely anthropological standpoint, of course.” “I think it sounds tight!” beamed Nina. “Has that expression made it to Staten Island yet? Or are you still saying ‘bodacious’?” Orion nodded politely. And so it was that Danny’s friends would ferry out to Staten Island. His friends. His sophisticated, oddball, highly opinionated friends.

The same ones who wore berets and jackets splattered with paint and pins that read “Question Authority!’’ and “Peace in the Middle East!’’ were coming to visit him on Staten Island, the land of mobsters’ mistresses, the Wu-Tang Clan, and landfills that could be seen from outer space. Danny had barely recovered from his birthday, still floating on a high from the smells of West Village bakeries and paintbrushes and coffee shops and second acts of Broadway shows and Christian—oh God, Christian. What would he think when he found out Danny lived not in a nice house on the South Shore, but a crappy apartment on a crummy street where you’d see ten cars on concrete blocks before you ever saw a busking musician or an impromptu poetry reading?

Danny would have to fake it. He spent the rest of his evening coming up with an itinerary for the field trip to “his Staten Island”—bird-watching at Lemon Creek Park, a few frames of bowling at Victory Lanes, a drive-by of the mansions in Annadale, fancy sandwiches at Frank and Sal’s—all things that would impress an out-of-towner, all things on the South Shore, all things that perhaps weren’t exactly his favorites, but at least wouldn’t betray the fact that “his Staten Island” wasn’t really his these days.

Danny rose early on Sunday, waving goodbye to Ma through the window of her Pontiac. She’d be spending the day folding linens at rich people’s homes in Tottenville. He’d just taken his last bite of cereal, ready to head to the ferry terminal, when suddenly, the phone in the kitchen rang. “Danny, I gotta bail on you today,” Astoria’s voice said through the earpiece. “Vivian Gramercy just gave me a hot tip on a performance venue for my show and I have to go check it out before some asshole NYU student snatches it up.”

The phone had barely touched the cradle before it rang again. “Hey, Danny,” a scratchy voice whispered. “It’s Nina. Listen, I woke up with a tickle in my throat so I should probably go on vocal rest for the rest of the weekend. Pippin’s only three weeks away and I gotta protect the gift.”

Text copyright © 2026 by Andrew Keenan-Bolger Penguin Random House values and supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission.

You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. Please note that no part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. PENGUIN is a registered trademark and PENGUIN WORKSHOP is a trademark of Penguin Books Ltd, and the W colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Design by Aya Ghanameh, adapted for ebook by Michelle Quintero Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

First published in the United States of America by Penguin Workshop, 2026 ISBN 9780593889244 Ebook ISBN 9780593889268 The authorized representative in the EU for product safety and compliance is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68, Ireland, https://eu- contact.penguin.ie. prhid_prh_7.4a_155107029_c0_r0 OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS CONTENTS Dedication Author’s Note Spring 1996 Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Summer 1996 Chapter Five Fall 1996 Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author OceanofPDF.com For my husband, best friend, and first reader, Scott, who makes my work and my world better OceanofPDF.com AUTHOR’S NOTE AUTHOR’S NOTE When I moved to New York City in 1996, one of my first memories was getting out of the subway on Eighth Avenue, a block over from Times Square, and seeing a drop-dead-gorgeous trans sex worker standing in front of a porno theater.

Easily six feet tall in her platform heels, she had long blond hair, wore a skintight silver minidress, and had her hands squarely on her hips, posing like Wonder Woman in the dimming winter light. As my dad and I passed by, she looked him dead in the eye and said, eyebrow cocked, “Hey, baby.” (My dad, five foot three, is conspicuously from Michigan, wears thick glasses, and blushed so hard, he probably bruised his cheeks.) That theater is now a Shake Shack. This book was inspired by how I remember New York in the nineties: grimy, sleazy, chaotic, beautiful.

Even though New York has changed a lot since then, it still struggles with many of the same problems that it did thirty years ago. Some of the language, attitudes, and experiences in these pages reflect that era: racism, sexism, homophobia, and domestic violence.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: a4d00d10b8e51ad3
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,223,609 bytes (3.074 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9780593889244, 9780593889268
• Pages: 303
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 416.8 minutes
• Total Words: 83,360
• Total Characters: 478,168
• Average Words per Page: 275.12
• Average Characters per Page: 1578.11

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