Christine Barker in Conversation with Meg Howrey

Christine Barker was one of the downtown success stories of late ’70s New York: an aspiring dancer, she left behind a large traditional military family and made it quickly to Broadway. In Third Girl from the Left, she recalls her time in the heart of the city’s creative scene—a compelling, haunting meditation on artistry, self-discovery, and the American dream at the time of the AIDS crisis. Humane, intimate, and deeply moving, this book is at once an elegy for those lost and a triumphant achievement. A revelatory portrait of grief, family dynamics, and persistence, Barker captures indelibly an unforgettable era in the life of our nation.
Books are available for purchase from Timbre Books in-store or online at timbrebooks.com.
Christine Barker was raised in a military family and spent her childhood moving across Europe and the United States. She devoted herself to the study of dance and at 20 made the brave decision to move to New York City to pursue a career in dance and theater. She appeared in the productions of Promises, Promises, Seesaw, and No, No Nanette before being cast in the London production of the Tony-award-winning A Chorus Line, which opened at the Royal Drury Lane Theater in 1976. She eventually joined the Broadway cast in New York City. In addition to her theater credits, Christine has appeared in numerous national television commercials. She holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and currently lives in Connecticut.
Meg Howrey is the author of the novels The Wanderers, The Cranes Dance, Blind Sight, and most recently, They’re Going to Love You, which was a New York Times Best Book of the Month and a New Yorker Best Book of 2022. She is also the coauthor of the bestselling novels City of Dark Magic and City of Lost Dreams, published under the pen name Magnus Flyte. Her nonfiction has appeared in Vogue and the Los Angeles Review of Books. A former professional dancer, she currently lives in Los Angeles.
Ventura Partners With








