Combining sly humor with an urban edge， Kate Christensen s In the Drink tells the story of a resolutely clear-eyed young woman who makes a complete mess of her life， and lives to tell the tale.The novel s heroine is the smart， pretty， underemployed， and single Claudia Steiner， personal secretary to Genevieve del Castellano， a terrifying， glamorous semi-lunatic who has it in for her for reasons she can t even begin to fathom. William， her best friend， considers Claudia his pal， his confidante， his sidekick in matters amatory， which would be fine if she weren t desperately in love with him herself. Further complicating matters is Claudia s old lover John Threadgill， an unpublished epic poet whose marriage to a Romanian stripper named Rima hasn t kept him from trying to seduce Claudia at every opportunity.Claudia came to New York City fresh out of college， buoyed along by her dream of becoming a journalist. But her starry-eyed notion of Claudia Steiner， Reporter on the Beat， quickly vanished into the ozone when she couldn t muster the requisite hard-bitten， white-hot urgency， the chain-smoking， the yelling， and the cutthroat story-mongering. Now， at the age of twenty-nine， she finds herself adrift in the city， careening dangerously from catastrophe to catastrophe. Desperately trying to keep her head above water， Claudia has little to rely on but a wry sense of humor， a keen appreciation of the medicinal properties of whiskey， and something more subtle--a persistent little flame of belief in herself， which makes a happy ending seem possible even in this most unforgiving of cities.Hilarious， compassionate， and keenly observed， In the Drink is the enormously entertaining debut of a startlingly talented young writer.