Edge of Smoke - Paperbackby Karlyle Tomms (Author) In the Pruitt Igoe slums of St. Louis in the 1960s, a heroin addict mother breaks her son's dolls and screams, "You are not a girl!" However, no one can convince Stephanie to live as Stephen. Her mother pimps her out to a man who rapes her and takes pictures of her as others rape her. After finding her mother brutally murdered, she is placed in Christian foster care, where they also try to convince her to accept being male.