NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER • A radiant new memoir from artist and writer Patti Smith, author of the National Book Award winnerJust KidsA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME,NPR,THE NEW YORKER“God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper,” writes Patti Smith in this moving account of her life. A post–World War II childhood unfolds in a condemned housing complex where we enter the child’s world of the imagination. Smith, the captain of her loyal and beloved sibling army, vanquishes bullies, communes with the king of tortoises, and searches for sacred silver pennies.The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs,Bread of Angelstakes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative role models as she begins to write poetry then lyrics, ultimately merging both into the songs of iconic recordings such asHorses, Wave,andEaster.She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred Sonic Smith, with whom she creates a life of
