Listen free for 30 days
-
My Fair Junkie
- A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean
- Narrated by: Amy Dresner
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $25.23
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
In the tradition of Blackout and Permanent Midnight, a darkly funny and revealing debut memoir of one woman's 20-year battle with sex, drugs, and alcohol addiction, and what happens when she finally emerges on the other side.
Growing up in Beverly Hills, Amy Dresner had it all: a top-notch private school education, the most expensive summer camps, and even a weekly clothing allowance. But at 24, she started dabbling in meth in San Francisco and unleashed a fiendish addiction monster. Soon, if you could snort it, smoke it, or have sex with, she did.
Smart and charming, with Daddy's money to fall back on, she sort of managed to keep it all together. But on Christmas Eve 2011, all of that changed when, high on Oxycontin, she stupidly "brandished" a bread knife on her husband and was promptly arrested for "felony domestic violence with a deadly weapon".
Within months, she found herself in the psych ward - and then penniless, divorced, and looking at 240 hours of court-ordered community service. For two years, assigned to a Hollywood Boulevard "chain gang", she swept up syringes (and worse) as she bounced from rehabs to halfway houses, all while struggling with sobriety, sex addiction, and starting over in her 40s.
In the tradition of Orange Is the New Black and Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight, Amy Dresner's My Fair Junkie is an insightful, darkly funny, and shamelessly honest memoir of one woman's battle with all forms of addiction, hitting rock bottom, and forging a path to a life worth living.
You may also enjoy...
-
Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- Written by: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
-
-
Could not put this book down!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-06-26
Written by: Erin Khar
-
One Hit Away: A Memoir of Recovery
- Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
- Narrated by: Ryan Haugen
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of 24, Jordan Barnes woke up next to a lifeless body, rifled through his dead friends’ pockets for any remaining heroin, and went right back to using. Strung out and homeless during the supposed best years of his life, there was no clear way out of the opioid crisis ravaging the streets of Portland, Oregon. But though Jordan had long accepted his fate, his parents still held out hope and would do everything in their power to get him the help he so desperately needed.
-
-
The Journey through sobriety
- By Susan on 2024-03-25
Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
-
American Drug Addict
- a memoir
- Written by: Brett Douglas
- Narrated by: Ryan Turner
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My name is Brett. I'm a college-educated man who was once a husband of 26 years with two children, three businesses, and a large home with an actual white picket fence. I'm also a drug addict. And I have a tale to tell. It's about the despair of addiction and the absolute certainty that it can be overcome. Recovery is not simply abstinence, but a process of growing up. I spent my entire life searching for the key to long-term sobriety. I would like to share with you what I have learned.
-
-
Addicting like drugs.
- By Anonymous User on 2021-05-31
Written by: Brett Douglas
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- Written by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
Not bad, not great
- By k.s. on 2019-07-04
Written by: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Memoirs Aren't Fairytales
- A Story of Addiction
- Written by: Marni Mann
- Narrated by: Arden Hammersmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving behind a nightmarish college experience, 19-year-old Nicole and her best friend Eric escape their home of Bangor, Maine to start a new life in Boston. Fragile and scared, Nicole desperately seeks a new beginning to help erase her past. But there is something besides freedom waiting for her in the shadows - a drug that will make every day a nightmare.
-
-
Well written. Quite a story
- By Sara Morrison on 2024-10-19
Written by: Marni Mann
-
Overcome
- A Memoir of Abuse, Addiction, Sex Work, and Recovery
- Written by: Amber van de Bunt
- Narrated by: Amber van de Bunt
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an early age, Amber van de Bunt knew she wasn't like the other girls in town. From childhood struggles with depression and eating disorders, her years as a topless dancer in Florida, and an eventual abortion and suicide attempt, to her rebirth in Los Angeles as a porn star named Karmen Karma, overcoming her relationship with her abusive mother, and her struggle to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle - van de Bunt's life has been a roller coaster. With humor, alacrity, and profound insight, she reveals her deepest, darkest secrets and pulls no punches - least of all with herself.
-
-
one of the best memoirs I've read yet!
- By Chantdell Shearer on 2022-07-28
Written by: Amber van de Bunt
-
Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- Written by: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
-
-
Could not put this book down!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-06-26
Written by: Erin Khar
-
One Hit Away: A Memoir of Recovery
- Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
- Narrated by: Ryan Haugen
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of 24, Jordan Barnes woke up next to a lifeless body, rifled through his dead friends’ pockets for any remaining heroin, and went right back to using. Strung out and homeless during the supposed best years of his life, there was no clear way out of the opioid crisis ravaging the streets of Portland, Oregon. But though Jordan had long accepted his fate, his parents still held out hope and would do everything in their power to get him the help he so desperately needed.
-
-
The Journey through sobriety
- By Susan on 2024-03-25
Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
-
American Drug Addict
- a memoir
- Written by: Brett Douglas
- Narrated by: Ryan Turner
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
My name is Brett. I'm a college-educated man who was once a husband of 26 years with two children, three businesses, and a large home with an actual white picket fence. I'm also a drug addict. And I have a tale to tell. It's about the despair of addiction and the absolute certainty that it can be overcome. Recovery is not simply abstinence, but a process of growing up. I spent my entire life searching for the key to long-term sobriety. I would like to share with you what I have learned.
-
-
Addicting like drugs.
- By Anonymous User on 2021-05-31
Written by: Brett Douglas
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- Written by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
Not bad, not great
- By k.s. on 2019-07-04
Written by: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Memoirs Aren't Fairytales
- A Story of Addiction
- Written by: Marni Mann
- Narrated by: Arden Hammersmith
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leaving behind a nightmarish college experience, 19-year-old Nicole and her best friend Eric escape their home of Bangor, Maine to start a new life in Boston. Fragile and scared, Nicole desperately seeks a new beginning to help erase her past. But there is something besides freedom waiting for her in the shadows - a drug that will make every day a nightmare.
-
-
Well written. Quite a story
- By Sara Morrison on 2024-10-19
Written by: Marni Mann
-
Overcome
- A Memoir of Abuse, Addiction, Sex Work, and Recovery
- Written by: Amber van de Bunt
- Narrated by: Amber van de Bunt
- Length: 6 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an early age, Amber van de Bunt knew she wasn't like the other girls in town. From childhood struggles with depression and eating disorders, her years as a topless dancer in Florida, and an eventual abortion and suicide attempt, to her rebirth in Los Angeles as a porn star named Karmen Karma, overcoming her relationship with her abusive mother, and her struggle to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle - van de Bunt's life has been a roller coaster. With humor, alacrity, and profound insight, she reveals her deepest, darkest secrets and pulls no punches - least of all with herself.
-
-
one of the best memoirs I've read yet!
- By Chantdell Shearer on 2022-07-28
Written by: Amber van de Bunt
-
Down the Rabbit Hole
- A Memoir of Abuse, Addiction and Recovery
- Written by: Kate Russell
- Narrated by: Kate Russell
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kate, born to abusive, drug addicted parents, identifies an inner God voice when she is very young. This voice, and the support of her grandmother, helps her overcome her circumstances instead of falling victim to them. However, as she grows up she finds that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, and she discovers that she is an addict herself. Deciding not to go down the path her parents went, she rises above her circumstances again and chooses the path of recovery.
-
-
A story of a amazing survivor
- By Lise on 2022-08-17
Written by: Kate Russell
-
A Piece of Cake
- A Memoir
- Written by: Cupcake Brown
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are shelves of memoirs about overcoming the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, miscarriage, alcoholism, hustling, gangbanging, near-death injuries, drug dealing, prostitution, or homelessness. Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she'd even turned 20.
-
-
Incredible Story
- By Shelby bjarnason on 2019-09-13
Written by: Cupcake Brown
-
Chasing a Flawed Sun
- Written by: Daniel McGhee
- Narrated by: Frank Gerard
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a true story. A transparent story of the life of a young man in America, who, like many of our lost youth, found his way into the drug culture. This story is an autopsy into the mind, heart, and soul of an addict. It begins at childhood and takes us through the thoughts, turmoil, and inner conflicts of a person lost in the undercurrent of addiction, and ends in a climax of self-discovery and realization. It is a gripping tale of a suburban youth and his journey through the streets of Baltimore, institutions, prisons, addiction, and worst of all, his own mind.
-
-
Dan M
- By Cindy Stewart on 2022-08-08
Written by: Daniel McGhee
-
High on Arrival
- A Memoir
- Written by: Mackenzie Phillips
- Narrated by: Mackenzie Phillips
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not long before her 50birthday, Mackenzie Phillips walked into Los Angeles International Airport. She was on her way to a reunion of One Day at a Time, the hugely popular 70s sitcom on which she once starred as the loveable rebel Julie Cooper. Within minutes, Mackenzie was in handcuffs, arrested for possession of cocaine and heroin. But the star who turned up High on Arrival has finally come back down to earth - to stay.
-
-
Still The Same Beautiful Person
- By SuperMOM on 2024-04-11
Written by: Mackenzie Phillips
-
Four Seconds: A Memoir
- Written by: Laura Andrade, Jean Knight Pace
- Narrated by: Belinda Lams
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her debut memoir, Andrade tells of her years with cocaine and crystal methamphetamine using, then selling, until all she had left of the life she wanted was a chalk outline and a pack of cigarettes. This is the story of her use and recovery, of the people who frustrated and inspired her, of the decision to leave the drug world. It is the story of her slow, often unsteady walk home.
Written by: Laura Andrade, and others
-
Sociopath
- A Memoir
- Written by: Patric Gagne Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Patric Gagne Ph.D.
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn’t understand. She suspected it was because she didn’t feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn’t like the way that “nothing” felt.
-
-
fantastic book, fantastic narrator
- By Kirste Roche on 2024-05-10
Written by: Patric Gagne Ph.D.
-
Wasted
- A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
- Written by: Marya Hornbacher
- Narrated by: Marya Hornbacher
- Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Precociously intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and ambitious, Marya Hornbacher grew up in a comfortable middle-class American home. At the age of 5, she returned home from ballet class one day, put on an enormous sweater, curled up on her bed, and cried because she thought she was fat. By age 9, she was secretly bulimic, throwing up at home after school, while watching Brady Bunch reruns on television and munching Fritos. She added anorexia to her repertoire a few years later and took great pride in her ability to starve. Marya's story gathers intensity with each passing year. By the time she is in college and working for a wire news service in Washington D.C., she is in the grip of a bout of anorexia so horrifying that it will forever put to rest the romance of wasting away. Down to 52 pounds and counting, Marya becomes a battlefield: her powerful death instinct at war with the will to live. Why would a talented young girl go through the looking glass and slip into a netherworld where up is down, food is greed, and death is honor? Why enter into a love affair with hunger, drugs, sex, and death? Marya Hornbacher sustained both anorexia and bulimia through 5 lengthy hospitalizations, endless therapy, the loss of family, friends, jobs, and ultimately, any sense of what it means to be "normal." In this vivid, emotionally wrenching memoir, she recreates the experience and illuminates the tangle of personal, family, and cultural causes underlying eating disorders.
-
-
Beautifully written, honest, and engaging... wish it wasn’t abridged.
- By Tracy on 2018-11-23
Written by: Marya Hornbacher
-
Quitter
- A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery
- Written by: Erica C. Barnett
- Narrated by: Jean Ann Douglass
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A startlingly frank memoir, Quitter documents one woman's struggles with alcoholism and recovery, with essential new insights into addiction and treatment.
-
-
Related more to this story than memoires “Blackout” or “Drinking”
- By Morticia Rose on 2022-01-03
Written by: Erica C. Barnett
-
Blackout
- Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
- Written by: Sarah Hepola
- Narrated by: Sarah Hepola
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, Blackout is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure - the sober life she never wanted. For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure". She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. But there was a price. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth.
-
-
yes! finally! something relatable
- By Jennifer A on 2021-07-16
Written by: Sarah Hepola
-
The Recovering
- Written by: Leslie Jamison
- Narrated by: Author
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its deeply personal and seamless blend of memoir, cultural history, literary criticism, and reportage, The Recovering turns our understanding of the traditional addiction narrative on its head, demonstrating that the story of recovery can be every bit as electrifying as the train wreck itself. Leslie Jamison deftly excavates the stories we tell about addiction - both her own and others' - and examines what we want these stories to do and what happens when they fail us. All the while, she offers a fascinating look at the larger history of the recovery movement and at the complicated bearing that race and class have on our understanding of who is criminal and who is ill.
-
-
My Story
- By Sirks on 2018-09-13
Written by: Leslie Jamison
-
The Fifth Vital
- Written by: Mike Majlak, Riley J. Ford
- Narrated by: Mike Majlak
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Majlak was a 17-year-old from a loving middle-class family in Milford, Connecticut, when he got caught up in the opioid epidemic that swept the nation. For close to a decade thereafter, his life was a wasteland of darkness and despair. While his peers were graduating from college, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and leading normal lives, Mike was snorting Oxycontin, climbing out of cars at gunpoint, and burying his childhood friends.
-
-
you're amazing Mike!!
- By emily on 2020-08-07
Written by: Mike Majlak, and others
-
A Million Little Pieces
- Written by: James Frey
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An uncommon accounting of a life destroyed and reconstructed, and a provocative alternative understanding of the nature of addiction and the meaning of recovery, A Million Little Pieces marks the debut of a bold and talented literary voice.
-
-
Characterizing the life of an addict.
- By Anonymous User on 2024-08-02
Written by: James Frey
What the critics say
What listeners say about My Fair Junkie
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephanie
- 2020-07-01
bravo
love love loved this book , Amy your are to funny but also serious thank you for everything you do to make recovery bearable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dale
- 2020-08-24
Inspirational
Awesome narration.
Great story. Amy is very well spoken.
A true inspiration to all addicts.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michelle
- 2022-12-13
Honest
I loved it! Amy is an open honest woman. I want to listen to the rest of her story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lilysmum
- 2020-07-19
Highly recommended memoir about addiction
Thank you, Amy.
Your memoir is a gift to those navigating their own journey with addiction. Touching not just on alcohol and drug addiction but anything that takes away more than it gives. Casually read and such a powerful story. Loved your narration. Looking forward to your next book.
All the best,
J
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Richard
- 2020-06-02
From RG
Bare pure honesty. A gift of love, help and insight.
Thanks for your giving, all the best
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rachelle
- 2020-11-05
***
......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . good book i don't have 15 words to say
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LAB
- 2023-10-28
honest, raw, inspiring
An amazing story of struggle told with humour and honesty. Not for the faint of heart. Be ready for some swearing!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!