For fans of Just Kids and Lit: a fearless, funny memoir of punk clubs, grunge Seattle, addiction, motherhood, and starting over.

HATER. SLUT. POSEUR. JUNKIE. WIFE. MOTHER. WIDOW. WOMAN.

What if the labels meant to shame you became the map to finding yourself?

Janet escaped the suffocating suburbs of 1970s New Jersey for the noise of New York, spending her nights in rock clubs and her days at a white shoe law firm. She brushed up against Hell’s Angels and mafia figures, rode out pre-hipster Williamsburg and 90s San Francisco, and landed on the dark side of Seattle’s grunge explosion.

They called her a hater, a slut, a junkie. She wore every label until she was ready to shed it, and not a minute sooner.

Lead Poisoning is the story of a woman who survived sexual assault, heroin addiction, abusive relationships, and devastating loss without losing her sense of humor. Partners lost to drugs and death. A daughter caught in the crossfire. A past that refuses to stay buried. Through it all, Janet learns that survival isn’t about erasing who you’ve been. It’s about deciding who you’ll become when there’s nothing left to prove and no one left to please.

Wry, raw, and soaked in the music of a time and place long gone, this is a love letter to the scenes that shaped her and an honest reckoning with what they cost.