Going Down on Madison Avenue

In 1990s New York, ambition is currency—and innocence doesn’t last long.

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When Cassandra “Cass” Ryder arrives in Manhattan fresh out of business school, she’s determined to build a life defined by independence, success, and possibility. A job at a prestigious Madison Avenue advertising agency seems like the perfect place to begin.

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Then she meets Jackson Tower. Brilliant, charismatic, and firmly established in both his career and his life, Jackson represents a world Cass is only beginning to understand. When their professional connection shifts into something more intimate, what begins as exhilarating quickly becomes complicated—shaped by

secrecy, imbalance, and the quiet pull of something neither of them fully controls. 

 

As Cass is drawn deeper into Jackson’s orbit, she must navigate not only the demands of a competitive workplace but also the subtler negotiations of power, desire, and self-worth. With the steady presence of her loyal friend Pete Whitaker and the unpredictable rhythms of agency life around her, Cass begins to question what she wants—and what she’s willing to accept.

 

Going Down on Madison Avenue is a thoughtful, provocative novelabout the uneasy education of desire, the instability of perception, and the complicated, oft en invisible negotiations that shape who we are.