Summary

Neon in Daylight tells the story of Kate, a young British woman cat-sitting for her mother’s friend in New York, who becomes involved in intense liaisons with a famous novelist and his beautiful teenage daughter.

In Chapter 1, Kate arrived in New York, to cat sit for a friend of her mother who was going on a post-divorce round-the-world trip. The cat was named Joni Mitchell. Kate had recently finished a master’s degree and had begun a PhD which she felt unenthusiastic and unhappy about. Coming to New York alone had caused friction between Kate and her boyfriend, a law student named George.

Her first morning in New York, Kate went to a nearby bodega to buy cigarettes and was awestruck by the sight of a beautiful young woman walking barefoot in the store. The young woman spoke to Kate but Kate did...