Candy Darling

“The most compelling and complete portrait of the late Warhol Superstar and LGBTQ+ pioneer to date.” —Jordan Runtagh, People

“The definitive record of [Candy Darling’s] life, shading in the vulnerable, gritty, and deeply soulful individual behind the fabulous façade . . . An essential read for anyone interested in queer culture and New York history . . . Such a gift.” —Mel Ottenberg, Interview magazine

★ “[An] incandescent portrait . . . Carr resurrects a trans icon whose life, artistry, and struggle speak directly to our moment.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“An unparalleled close-up of a pop culture icon.” —Publishers Weekly

“Sensitive and complex . . . A fascinating portrait of a trendsetter.” —June Sawyers, Booklist

“A richly detailed and thoughtful portrait of Candy Darling, an innovator during an era that, although on the cusp of change, had not yet evolved far enough beyond the limited boundaries of conformity.” —Carol J. Binkowski, Library Journal

“I first heard her name in a Lou Reed song; I first saw her face in a Peter Hujar photograph, looking glamorous, dying; I first heard her voice in an Andy Warhol film. And now, how wonderful to be taken, with care and delight and plenty of spectacle, behind the myth for a peek at the beating heart of Candy Darling. Cynthia Carr has written an absorbing account of an unforgettable woman in a fascinating time, a lonely icon who tried to find a place for herself in a world that couldn’t hold her.” —Justin Torres, author of Blackouts

"I love, love, love the deliciously rich telling of Candy’s life, and downtown New York in the 60s and 70s—all the haunts, the denizens, the stars. It’s clear Cynthia Carr fell in love with Candy Darling. Now, at long last, so shall we all." —Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us

“What an inspiring book! First you think, ‘I know that.’ But then you think, ‘Oh I didn’t know that, or that or that.’ The very identity of Candy Darling, what it was like to be a trans kid growing up in the 1950s, and the landscape surrounding her, gets renovated in this wake-up take on gender in the ’60s and ’70s. The web of detail assembled by culture sleuth Cynthia Carr is quickened by the fact of Candy’s tireless beauty, charm, and charisma—and oh so much pain. Complexly wrenching, startling, entirely fresh, and frankly alive, Candy Darling delivers an altogether frank and shimmering portrait of a self-made American female deity, more than a bit of a prophet, constructed whole cloth from her own and everyone else’s desiring dream. Omigod, what a trip!” —Eileen Myles, author of a "Working Life"

“Candy Darling willed herself to be beautiful, and she succeeded: she was uniquely, spectrally beautiful. But the world made her pay for it. The prejudice against gender choice kept her poor, beholden to others, shunned, disrespected, disinvited, and locked up within herself. Cynthia Carr’s minute reconstruction of her life is brilliant and profoundly sad. As if Candy’s ghost were dictating the terms, it keeps her an enigma, a consummate life actress who never dressed down.” —Lucy Sante, author of I Heard Her Call My Name

“Deftly reported and full of fresh facts and interviews as well as glittering gossip, Cynthia Carr’s Candy Darling allows us to see—truly, for the first time—this celluloid wisp of a Warhol superstar in all her humanity and in all her doomed performance art, trying to pass 24-7 as Kim Novak or Marilyn Monroe, existing 2D in a 3D world. Updating all the camp and vamp, Carr is a trustworthy, sensitive guide to the nuances of Candy’s experience as she emerges as a historical trans pioneer, caught between gender dysphoria and her own blonder gender euphoria.” —Brad Gooch, author of Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring