Alex

Alex is the main character of the novel. When Alex was 20 years old she moved to New York City and began working as an escort. She worked at restaurants during the day, learning from other girls she met about how to appeal to older men. Over time, she developed a knack for the trade. She particularly learned how to adopt a variety of personas, increasingly obscuring her true self in order to be the person her clients wanted or expected her to be. In exchange, Alex was not only paid, but garnered status from her proximity to such elderly, wealthy men.

In the narrative present, Alex is 22. Her life in the city has devolved. After stealing drugs and money from a client named Dom, Alex has gone on the lam. She attaches herself to a monied businessman named Simon, becoming the woman she guesses he would want her...