This fascinating debut is set in 1920’s Chicago and concerns an heiress called Penelope ‘Nelly’ Sawyer, described by the author as the ‘wealthiest Negro in America’. Her father, Ambrose Sawyer, has managed to catapult his family into the upper echelons of black society. Nelly is getting over the death of her brother Elder, who has been killed in a road accident but her mother wants her to attend a Cotillien in the city at the end of summer. This is the American equivalent of a Debutante Ball, where the most prominent young women in society are presented in high society. Suddenly, and against her wishes, Nelly becomes the season’s ‘diamond’ – to use a Bridgerton term. This honour means that Nelly is now the most eligible young woman in society, but her ambitions don’t end at a society marriage. For the past year she has been indulging her passion for journalism, researching and anonymously submitting articles to a Black-run newspaper called The Chicago Defender. Her brother Elder was her co-conspirator and sounding board for her articles. He was the go-between, taking Nelly’s articles to the editor Richard Norris. Now she faces a choice, not only is she unexpectedly involved in a love triangle, she must decide to reveal her true identity to the newspaper, or allow her journalistic ambitions to end.
I really enjoy a plucky and transgressive heroine, so I was immediately on Nelly’s side. She’s been looking into the underworld of Chicago society and the leader of an organised crime group called the Mayor of Maxwell Street. This is the prohibition era and the dark but glamorous world of the secret ‘speakeasy’. She has already met one club owner through her brother. Jay Shorey is intriguing and first caught her eye at Elder’s funeral, where they seemed to spark a mutual attraction despite the unusual surroundings. Jay is the archetypal bad boy, but does find many young people from high society visit his club. He doesn’t have their family connections but has access to so many people in Chicago through the club and his ‘god-uncle’ who is a bit of a gangster. His ability to move between the darker parts of Chicago society and her own, more elevated, circles means he’s invaluable to Nelly and her investigations, but is there more to their relationship than that? Yet he isn’t the only suitor on the horizon.
As Nelly bursts onto the socialite scene, she meets Tomás Escalante y Roche at a polo match. He is one of the polo players with an uncle who is a French marquis, and a father who “owns half of Mexico” according to the wonderfully sardonic and witty Sequoia McArthur. Tomás rides a horse that Nelly happened to raise on the Sawyer ranch and she doesn’t mind giving her sharp feedback on what he’s doing wrong! Needless to say he isn’t used to hearing such criticism, especially from a young woman but her honesty makes her memorable. Tomás is hooked and he intends to court her. As far as Nelly’s family are concerned she’d be crazy not to reciprocate his affections and should jump at the chance to come out of the Cotillion summer with a fiancé. So, it’s a bit of a love triangle but also a young woman’s choice between the the life she wants and the life her family wants for her. I was rooting for her.
She chooses to face things head on by meeting Her editor in a cafeteria, and has to convince him that yes, she did write the articles. However, she comes up against a very sharp reality. Norris tells her he can’t publish articles under her real name because of her family’s position in society. He knows that the Ambrose Sawyer would soon be knocking on his door if he did. Nelly is so disappointed that Norris makes a deal. He gives her an assignment and if she succeeds he promises she can publish under her own name. Of course it’s impossible. He tells her about the Mayor of Maxwell Street, a secretive figure in gangland who seems to have achieved the impossible and brought different organisations together across the race divide. Usually Irish, Italian, Jewish and Black gangsters are having turf wars and killing each other, but that’s stopped and he thinks this new Mayor is behind it. He tells Nelly that if she can correctly identify this man he will publish her article and take the consequences of using her real name. Of course she accepts his challenge.
This is a page turner and it’s impossible not to like Nelly and admire her guts. I over the way the author handled the attitudes and outright racism of a hundred years ago. She even highlights the experiences of diverse characters on a spectrum of issues, such as poverty, class, education and skin tone. Jay’s relatively light skin enables him to ‘pass’, yes it opens doors but then you’re participating with your own oppressor. Nelly is very disapproving of living life on those terms. Jay is mixed race and he explains to her:
“There are two candy jars, right? One marked for Negroes, and one for white folk. The Negro — under penalty of death — can only take from one jar. The white man, though, he can take from one or the other. He can take from both. Never mind that the jars have the exact same candy; the white man still gets to choose. That is all I want, Nelly. The freedom to choose. I don’t want to look like them, or act like them, or be them. But I want their options.”
These issues come organically from the characters and they’re inclusion really add some weight to the historical background of the novel. Her depiction of Chicago in the 1920’s feels authentic, rather than the stylised razzle dazzle of the musical, but they come from the same world. There’s even a nod to The Great Gatsby too. This is an entertaining novel with a plucky heroine and some gravitas behind the compelling story and a compulsive need to keep reading. I look forward to seeing what the author does next.
Out Now from Thorndike Press
Meet the Author
Avery Cunningham is a resident of Memphis, TN, and a 2016 graduate of DePaul University’s Master of Arts Writing & Publishing program. She has over a decade of editorial experience with various literary magazines, small presses, and best-selling authors. Avery grew up surrounded by exceptional African-Americans who strived to uplift their communities while also maintaining a tenuous hold on prosperity in a starkly segregated environment. The sensation of being at once within and without is something she has grappled with since childhood and explores thoroughly in her work of historical fiction. When not writing, Avery is adventuring with her Bernese Mountain Dog, Grizzly, and wading waist-deep in research for her next novel. She aspires to tell the stories of complex characters fighting for their right to exist at the fringes of history. THE MAYOR OF MAXWELL STREET is her debut novel.
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