Joyce Johnson was part of the extraordinary circle that included Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi and Hettie Jones, Gregory Corso, Robert Frank, Willem de Kooning and Frank Kline, and was witness to the art and lives of these artists who formed the Beats, a movement that has now gained almost mythical resonance. She was living with Jack Kerouac when "On the Road" - his novel that seemed to encapsulate the spirit of the Beats - was first published, turning him into a celebrity. Johnson's book is a personal memoir and a summation of the times, a story of adolescent rebellion and a desire to choose a different life. She shows how the Beat women, in deciding to break the rules and leave home as unmarried young women in the 1950s, discovered the risks and the heady excitement of trying to live as freely as the rebels they loved. First published in the US in 1983, "Minor Characters" is an intelligent, insightful and sympathetic portrayal of the individuals who defined the 'Beat Generation' and a personal reflection on the hardship and elation of liberation.