Just Kids, By Patti Smith

Art, artists, and the early years of the 'Godmother of Punk'

Aged 20, Patti Smith left South Jersey and went to New York, determined to become an artist.

There she met Robert Mapplethorpe. Both became famous; but this memoir focuses on the early years, when they were still struggling, and is a tender account of their time together, first as lovers, then as loving friends. We see the slow beginnings of their careers; his as artist, hers as poet and musician. Bit-part players include Jimi Hendrix, Sam Shepard and Andy Warhol. Despite the environment of low-life Bohemianism, with a cast of pimps, prostitutes, chancers and junkies, there's an essential innocence about Smith's evocation of the period.