Just kids acts as a memoir turned love story turned elegy for Patti Smith’s moving relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

We witness Smith and Mapplethorpe’s growing relationship, and see their struggles with poverty, not knowing where they’re next meal will come from. As well as the development of both their art and careers. The novel romanticises New York in the late sixties and seventies, even in the midst of the poor and drug fuelled parts of the city. Their relationship encapsulates experience of youth, friendship, love, sexual politics, and the depth of artistic process.

I loved being able to see Mapplethorpe’s photography throughout the book (Bloomsbury paperback edition), which compliments Smith’s lyrical prose style. The style of their art forms - intertwined and inseparable - symbolise their incredible relationship.