The Promised Party: Kahlo, Basquiat and Me

AN iNEWS BEST BOOK TO READ THIS MONTH

''Clement has lived a life like no other, and made of it a shimmering mosaic, a masterpiece, which is this book'' Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less

Growing up in Mexico City, Jennifer Clement lived next door to Frida Kahlo''s house. It was an unorthodox and bohemian childhood, living alongside artists, communists, revolutionaries and poets, and one that allowed an awakening of creative freedom and curiosity about the world.

Leaving behind the revolutions in Latin America for the burgeoning counter-culture scene in ''80s New York, Clement quickly became a fixture on the art scene, inhabiting the world of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Colette Lumiere and William Burroughs, and frequenting The Mudd Club, Danceteria and Studio 54.

From the author of cult classic Widow Basquiat, this memoir is a tale of two cities and their artists. It recreates the fury, ecstasy and danger that made ''70s Mexico City and ''80s New York two of the greatest places to be young, free and alive.