The Angel of Polk Street

“A beautiful and hopeful book… [the] fast-paced narrative pulls one inward to self, to considering good and evil and the formation of identify. Highly recommended.”  Rosalie Reigle, Bad Reviews

“Newbrough is clearly a stunning writer speaking emotionally to universal themes." Batya Weinbaum, Author of Feminist Voices

Powerful and insightful, …delivers an unflinching examination of the best and worst aspects of the human condition. Nathan Beauchamp, Co-author, Universe Extended, Award winning science fiction series

The prose is intense and dramatic, leading the reader into complete submersion in this dark yet inspiring tale."   Andrea Wesley, Nightwood Journal

The Angel of Polk Street tells the powerful story of a child's unique coming of age.  Leslie Lawrence, nicknamed Lee, and his mother, Veronica, are torn apart when he is kidnapped at age eight and held for years by an erratic captor in a desert shack. In her loss, Veronica turns from Jungian dream therapist to forensic  psychiatrist. In the early teens, Lee begins to identify as a girl and takes on his/her first name, Leslie. Leslie escapes her violent kidnapper. As a transgender teen, she hitchhikes to San Francisco's tawdry Tenderloin District, performing a strip act on Polk Street dressed as an angel. She is finally identified and returned to Veronica. Leslie and her mother struggle together to recover their lives and their love.