In 1978 Christiane F. testified against a man who had traded heroin for sex with teenage girls at Berlins notorious Zoo Station. In the course of that trial, Christiane F. became connected with two journalists, and over time they helped to turn her storywhich begins with a dysfunctional but otherwise fairly normal childhoodinto an acclaimed bestseller. Christiane F.s rapid descent into heroin abuse and prostitution is shocking, but the boredom, the longing for acceptance, the thrilling risks, and even the musical obsessions that fill out the rest of Christianes existence will be familiar to every reader. Christiane F.s Berlin is a strange and often terrifying place, but its also a place that remains closer than we might think.