This has been a stellar year of five-star reads so far, and among them, Avery Cunningham's debut novel, "The Mayor of Maxwell Street," stands out as a delightful gem. My journey with this book began after New Year's when, as I embarked on my new bookish Instagram account (@litoreads), Avery reached out after spotting a post about my most anticipated reads for 2024, which included "The Mayor of Maxwell Street." Her gesture of offering a digital ARC to a budding bookish account spoke volumes about her character, and the genuine warmth in our online exchanges mirrored the heart she pours into her writing.

Penelope "Nelly" Sawyer's story opens at her brother's funeral, where she encounters the Black Chicago elite, notably the intriguing Jay Shorey, marking the beginning of a captivating narrative. Unbeknownst to her parents, Nelly has been contributing articles to a Chicago newspaper under a pseudonym, with her late brother's assistance. As she navigates the complexities of a debutante cotillion, she finds herself entangled in a covert mission to uncover the elusive "Mayor of Maxwell Street." The plot unfolds into a riveting adventure, blending Nelly's high-society obligations with her quest for the truth about a shadowy character that even Chicago's deadliest seem to be wary of.

The ensemble of characters includes the strong-willed Nelly Sawyer, who is the daughter of the "wealthiest [Black man] in America"; the suave, quasi-royal Tomás Escalante y Rocha; Sequoia McArthur – a socialite with an undeniable allure reminiscent of actress Dominique Jackson; and the charismatic, yet mysterious, Jay Shorey, who seems to know everyone in Chicago. The characters are diverse and vibrant, a testament to Cunningham's storytelling prowess. Her knack for creating well-rounded characters ensures that readers never lose track of who's who. Sequoia, in particular, emerges as one of the most compelling characters; she shows the reader life as a closeted woman in the 20's while exuding regal sophistication and delivering some of the book's most cutting-edge repartee:

"'I do [look stunning], don't I?' she said. 'You know, I won this little number off of Joanna Dickerson last summer at Idlewild. Fifteen-love, my best score since. And honestly, if you knew Joanna, you'd know that such a dress is completely wasted on her. Enough money to finance an entire Jeanne Lanvin collection, but she'd rather go around in wool blouses and plaid skirts like some governess in a tragic novel.'" Nelly was wearing a skirt and blouse when Sequoia said this to her.

Cunningham's writing skillfully captures the essence of Prohibition-era Chicago in the Roaring Twenties, with sharp wit and an entertaining narrative that keeps pace with the notorious reputation the 1920s are known for. The final 100 pages are a whirlwind of suspense, twists, and revelations, elevating the story to unforeseen heights. Cunningham deftly subverts expectations, leaving readers on the edge of their seats.

The racial undertones throughout the novel are a powerful element, almost like an additional character that shapes the world. It lays bare the challenges faced by the characters, even within the privileged 1%, in confronting the prevailing racial dynamics of the time. The novel's exploration of race is profound, serving as a thought-provoking commentary on societal structures. It doesn't merely pander or preach; instead, it weaves intelligence and wit into the narrative, prompting reflection on today's world while ensuring an enjoyable reading experience.

It is only January and I've had the privilege of exploring two historical fiction novels written by women of color, utilizing their backgrounds to craft compelling stories. Avery Cunningham emerges as a vital storyteller for the genre. "The Mayor of Maxwell Street" is more than a debut; it's a resonant voice commanding attention in our contemporary landscape. It's a flawless novel that demands your reading attention – a captivating blend of mystery, banter, and adventure. Don't miss this.

Five stars.

There's something special about that first great book you read in a year. After I started 2024 off with a couple of clunkers, The Mayor of Maxwell Street had me captivated from the start, and the precise prose and quick-witted dialogue that author Avery Cunningham manages to pack into her debut was like a breath of fresh air.

The novel is set in Chicago, in the summer of 1921. Our main character is Penelope "Nelly" Sawyer, the daughter of the "wealthiest Negro in America" (Cunningham's term, in an effort to "adhere to historical accuracy"), and we first meet Nelly at her brother's funeral. Nelly lives in Richmond, Kentucky, on her family's horse farm, and so she expects her stay in Chicago to be brief. However, her mother has other plans. There's to be a Cotillion in Chicago at the end of the summer -- a presentation of the eligible bachelorettes from "hundreds of the most prominent Colored families and peoples from New Orleans to Boston" -- and against her wishes, Nelly will be participating.

Thus, Nelly is thrust onto the socialite scene, with sharp-tongued Sequoia McArthur (a terrific character) as her minder and guide. At one of the first scheduled events -- a polo match -- Nelly meets Tomás Escalante y Roche, one of the polo players whose "uncle is a ...French marquis, and (whose) father owns half of Mexico". Tomás's horse is one Nelly happened to raise herself on the Sawyer horse farm, and she gives Tomás some pointed suggestions on what he's doing wrong with his handling of the mare, feedback that someone of his stature is highly unaccustomed to hearing. That stark honesty creates an alluring attraction for Tomás, and he begins a slow and intentional courtship.

Tomás is the easy choice -- he's essentially a prince! -- if Nelly is going to emerge from the Cotillion summer betrothed, but of course it can't be that straightforward. Enter Jay Shorey. Nelly originally met Jay at her brother's funeral, where he immediately caught her attention. They shared a moment, and an unlikely dance, and no small amount of mutual attraction. Jay is the "bad boy" to Tomás's princely pedigree: while Jay moves in many of the same high society circles, he doesn't have the family connections. Instead, he's a bit of a gangster under the protection of his "god-uncle"; he operates a speakeasy, which provides him connections to a plethora of people in the Chicago, both wealthy high society members as well as the seedy underbelly of the most corrupt town in America.

So, is this a love triangle, "which will she choose?" type of story? Yes, a bit. But while the first portion of the book focuses on Nelly's introduction to high society in Chicago and her developing relationships, the true crux of the story is revealed about a quarter of the way through. Nelly's passion, we come to learn, is journalism, and for the past year she had been anonymously submitting articles to The Chicago Defender, a Black-run newspaper. Nelly's brother was the conduit and willing confidante for her secret passion, and with him gone, she is faced with a decision: meet with editor Richard Norris and reveal her identity, or allow her dream to die with her brother.

She chooses the former, meeting Norris in a dingy cafeteria, and after convincing him she is the actual author of the articles, she's presented with a difficult reality: Norris won't allow her to publish under her name because of her father, her family's position in society, and the backlash he'd received from Ambrose Sawyer if he did. After Nelly expresses her disappointment, Norris finally capitulates, barely. He gives her an impossible assignment that, if accomplished, will allow her to bury her pseudonym and publish under her own byline. The task? I'll let Norris describe it:

"You want a byline? All right, Ms. Sawyer. Here's a byline for you. A shadowy figure showed up in conversation a couple years ago and has inspired all kinds of stories ever since. No one knows exactly where he lays his head, but on the beat, he's called the Mayor of Maxwell Street. There's been some recent coordination among the local bosses across race lines, you see. Italians, Irish, Jewish, Bronzeville. The status quo is them killing each other over street corners, but now they're working together. I suspect this 'Mayor' has something to do with that...You give me a profile identifying this person, Penelope Sawyer, and I'll print your name in black and white, come what may."

The assignment isn't just nearly impossible, it's also dangerous, but Nelly accepts it with almost no hesitation. And thus, her journey begins to unmask the "Mayor" and achieve her true passion.

The story is compelling on multiple levels, and the writing is top-notch. I was wholly impressed by author Avery Cunningham -- for a debut novel, the precision of her prose and command of convincing dialogue was truly unexpected. I found myself continuously highlighting different sentences that captivated me, especially around Cunningham's masterful use of similes and metaphors. Turns of phrase like "(she) hummed and swiveled her head, eyes touching everything and everyone like the Angel of Death searching for firstborns to slaughter", or "when he spoke, he carried the severity of a long winter", or "(she) walked through the gossip and the sneers like tall grass. It brushed against clothes, tickled her hands, and left its seeds embedded in her skin." Great stuff, right?

I thought Cunningham also achieved a Goldilocks "just right" amount of racial commentary included throughout the novel. Given the plot, it was an expected (and necessary) component, and she manages to incorporate examples from across the spectrum of experiences likely encountered by the Black community 100 years ago without preaching or lecturing to the reader. She also creates a diverse set of characters and situations that allow her to tackle the role of wealth, class, occupation, skin tone, and a variety of other factors on those experiences, all without detracting from the story. One passage stands out, when Nelly challenges Jay on a situation where he was passing for white, something he could often pull off given his father was Black and his mother white. Jay says:

"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."

There were a few small imperfections for me -- some inconsistency of pacing, for example -- but those bits that I'd tweak were rare. While it's very early in the year, The Mayor of Maxwell Street is clearly the best book I've read so far in 2024, and I predict it will be quite some time before it's dethroned. This will certainly end up in my Top 10 for 2024, and it has a legitimate shot at Book of the Year. Very highly recommended.

I read this book so fast, I couldn’t put it down. It was overall just amazing. 10/10 across the board. Highly recommend this to anyone. The setting and time period was marvelous.

Thank you for the ARC!

3 stars for overall content, but I would have to remove half to one whole star in my review for all the grammar issues and typos. I will share my grief over that first because it was extremely annoying to read this book with all the missing words, spelling mistakes, incorrect word usage, and duplicate sentences/words. It ruined the flow of what could have been an interesting story and took away from the entire experience. I genuinely hope this is thoroughly reviewed before publishing.

I will give this book 3 stars because it was too long for my liking and by the end, I really did not understand what the point of the book was at all. I went into the book with little to no knowledge of the plot, but when I read the plot summary after finishing the book, I felt like I read something entirely different. My main pain points had to with this book being described as a 'riveting historical drama' and 'an epic love story'. I definitely saw close to none of both.

I don't have much background in the historical aspect of the setting but I will say the environment that was established was done very well. The 1920's were shown with enough detail that I sometimes caught myself thinking this feels like Jay Gatsby could stroll into any of these parties at any minute. It was fanciful and very pretty, but my issue was with the more somber topics that were not given the same amount of prominence. Any mention of Jim Crow, prohibition, poverty, racism, immigration, gender roles/sexual preference were fleeting and seemed to have been glossed over as 'Oh yeah, that happens around here, too.' For this reason, I would say the prologue was my favorite part of the book and I thought it was setting up an entirely different story than what was given.

The love story was subpar. I had to go back and double check if I got the time period wrong, but, no, this 'epic love story' spanned one summer. It felt like a cross between Grease and Romeo & Juliet. Star-crossed lovers who absolutely know deep down in their bones that they are one and the same, with a love triangle, meddling parents, and social constructs thrown into the mix. I don't think it was a love story at all but more of an adrenaline rush (which was proven in the epilogue).

All the background characters (Sequoia, Lloyd, Elder, Nelly's parents, Jay, Tomas, etc.) were well-written and I enjoyed any scene which included them individually as a foil to Nelly. Which leads me to say I found Nelly to be absolutely insufferable. She was the definition of a virtue signaler who wrote people off/looked down on people she just met as shallow and vapid but still used them for favors to meet her own needs. Characters or real humans who don't take anyone else's counsel or advice, or stop to think about the consequences of their actions, are not strong, brave, or independent. They are just selfish jerks (to keep it PG).

With all that said, the exciting parts of the book were truly exciting but only covered maybe 30-40% of the overall plot. The beginning half was dull and slow, building up to what you would think is a great mystery at the heart of the city. The middle was thrilling. The end fell flat as we lost sight of the mystery and focused more on the debutante. This was not for me but maybe others will enjoy it more.

What a stunning novel!
So I will say that I totally pegged the whole mayor piece pretty early on, but this book was so dang good. The characters, the plot, the intrigue - I’m not one for period pieces but this took the cake. I can honestly say that the characters were developed, some were likable and this book made me wish I could read all day long (but with four kids thats not happening).

WELL DONE, BRAVO, here’s hoping there’s another novel by Cunningham coming soon!

Prophetic that I thought Avery Cunningham was already a well known and popular author when I first saw this book pop up. This is, unbelievably, her debut novel. This book is more than just well-written (though it is, very well written). It is smart, emotionally charging, historically captivating, and above all, beautiful.

I found the GR summary meandering so here’s my version:

This story opens up with a ballad in Alabama set in the early 1900s. It is a short story of a mixed boy nicknamed “Jimmy Blue-Eyes” who had to flee his town following the advances of a white woman.

A few years later, a young debutante named Penelope “Nelly” Sawyer has arrived in Chicago for her brother’s funeral. She’s unlike most young debutantes you’ve read in novels, she’s a Black woman whose father is dubbed “The Wealthiest Negro in America”. The Sawyer family’s wealth is very new, they made their fortune raising race horses, and Nelly and her parents are very aware of the delicacy of new wealth, especially for a colored family like themselves.

Nelly’s parents only want for her to marry well and secure her future. But Nelly has a secret: she’s an investigative writer and her articles have been published in secret in a local Chicago paper. Determined to find her own path, Nelly accepts an assignment to find the dangerous kingpin known only as “The Mayor of Maxwell Street”.

Nelly’s investigations will lead her into Chicago’s dangerous underground, meanwhile her debutante is leading her into Chicago’s most prominent locations. Both are places she is told that she does not belong – the underground because she is a young wealthy woman – the exclusive ballrooms and exhibitions because of her race.


Cunningham has written a story filled with beauty and wonder while still keeping us on our toes with the recognition of all the uncertainty and danger that Nelly faces both within her own prestigious company and when she walks down dangerous streets. The racism and presumptions made about the main character are so flawlessly interwoven with the resolution of her character.

That is not to say that Nelly is a perfect character. She undergoes a lot of development, and honestly there were times towards the end that I was getting upset like actually whispering, “you stupid idiot” under my breath and nearly fuming at the thought that the book would head in the direction I feared it would. But that was me being silly because this book is smarter than 90% of the books being published today. The story that is being told is fantastic yet the characters are real and tangible.

And beyond the story being told there is also the setting, which I couldn’t not mention in my review. The setting is what drew me to this book. Chicago 100 years ago? Heck yeah. And Cunningham has done a magnificent job at placing us in the 1920s. Plus the author name drops dress styles, art pieces, and cars which are so fun to look up and visualize in the story. If you take anything from this review please when you read this during the cotillion scene look up the Chicago Cultural Center, and see the Tiffany glass dome and imagine this beautiful ball taking place under there. I’ve been thinking about it literally alll day

Overall review: 500/5 I can’t wait til it comes out in print on the 30th so I can read the polished version.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. I thought the author did a good job of transporting the reader to this fictional 1920s Chicago which made it much easier to read than some other historical fiction I've read recently where the world building fell flat. I thought the characters were interesting and for the most part fleshed out well. There were a few instances where they fell flat or their motivations didn't make sense/didn't seem to fit with what we knew about them, but that didn't take away from the overall book.

2.5 Stars

The concept of this story had me so so excited and it started so well but unfortunately it just did not deliver in the way that I hoped. The initial set up was great and I found myself looking forward to picking it back up again but as the story progressed I think it was just trying to do a bit too much and in doing that lost it's direction and I ended up finding myself quite bored and not overly invested in what was going on.

I don’t think that either the romance or mystery elements of this book were strong enough, it needed to commit to one path more than the other but instead seemed to just sit on the fence a bit for me which left the story feeling quite flat. The pacing was a little uneven and there were times it captured my interest and then would taper back off again. That being said, I did enjoy the characters, following the journey of Nelly and I enjoyed seeing her relationship with Jay develop- there just wasn’t enough of it. The ending also felt quite rushed and abrupt after such a slow journey to get there.

Overall this book was fine but not what I expected, it was quite slow and hard to get engrossed in.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street had me on the edge of my seat!!! I was pulled into the story of Nelly and Jay so much that I read this book in one day. I will definitely reread this book and purchase it once it comes out. The ending was exactly what I needed it to be.

me enjoying a 500+ page historical fiction this much was not on my 2024 bucketlist but the genre didn't have avery cunningham before this book!!
this book is a romance (love triangle!!), mystery, and historical fiction all at once . . . while also feeling like none of those things. everything about the pacing and the scenes feels subtle and almost quiet. I don't know how to explain it, but I flew through this, was glued to the page, and then was like . . . "what just happened?"
a journey!!
my one complaint: I am definitely a mystery girly but I have not previous read stories dealing with like mob/city corruption plotlines. I feel like in the mafia world there is a lot of like "wink wink nudge nudge" in the dialogue. unfortunately, I have not seen sopranos. I am usually not picking up what you're putting down. so I do think I lacked a full depth of understanding.
will be eagerly anticipating whatever avery cunningham writes next!

We meet our protagonist Nelly at her brother's funeral. It's an odd affair because her parents use the Summer following her brother's death to introduce 20-something Nelly to society. The story is set in 1920s Chicago and Nelly's once boring life is upended by her brother's death, being a debutante, being an aspiring journalist, and finding herself in a love triangle. Of course, there is a love triangle- because Nelly's been too busy riding horses and writing articles under a pen name to realize that she's gorgeous (is anyone else tired of this trope?). Her prospective beaus include a wealthy man of Mexican and French ancestry and a white-passing handsome stranger who leads her to danger. The only happy ending would be to choose neither suitor and embrace a career in journalism, but I'm sure others might disagree. The prologue was also misleading, as it introduces a side character before the protagonist. I also felt as though the author worked hard to squeeze in a romance when it would have already been alluring enough with Nelly pursuing a career under her parent's nose. I enjoy reading about the Black elite, so I appreciated the touches of realism in which a wealthy, beautiful Black woman can be mistaken for the maid or be treated coldly because the White people in the book feel her privilege is wasted on someone of her complexion- it's real and still occurs (see Oprah shopping in Paris). I enjoyed the book despite the tropes and think it would be a fun read for anyone who likes the Roaring 20s, the Black Bourgeoisie, murder mysteries, and plucky young women with goals.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for permitting me to read this work before its publication date.

It’s a great debut novel! I hope to read more by Avery Cunningham. A black, independent debutant in 1920s Chicago, Nelly, gets mixed up with a white passing biracial young man, Jay, from the south. Sparks fly as she is thrown into a criminal underworld. Are there sparks between Nelly and Jay, too? The reader goes on a journey with them through gun fights, racism, and rebelling against prohibition.

Thank you, Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue, for the Advanced Reader Copy.

An epic story of love and ambition between two captivating characters. Nelly and Jay are both determined to escape the fate of their birth, and to chart their own paths - but when they collide, is there any way they can do it together? The writing is lush and rich, and the setting of Chicago a riotous backdrop.

This book is fantastic. It's an amazingly well-researched glimpse into the wealthy Black community of 1920s Chicago that was completely overlooked by my public school education. But it's mostly a heartbreaking story about complicated people living complex lives. I loved the main character and wanted to shake her. I wanted to punch her love interest in the face, and was rooting for them to kiss. They felt absolutely real at every turn--amazing character work! Moreover, the author has a lovely way with words. Her descriptions of the world are so vibrant and raw. I was sad to see this book end!

I am torn on how to provide feedback for this book. I really enjoyed the setting, and the characters were great and really well developed. I loved the ways Jay kept popping up into Nelly's life. However, the novel felt a bit long. It started off really slowly, and while it did pick up in parts, I didn't find myself dying to pick it up. I also didn't love the ending. I had to reread it a couple of times, and I still felt a bit unresolved about the whole thing.

I loved the setting and feel of this book. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genre's and I appreciate the time and effort the author took to get the setting right. The story itself follows the main character, Nelly, who is a Black woman in Chicago coming from the richest black family in America. Although she is tied to family obligations she wants nothing more than to be a journalist which sets her on a path of trying to discover the Mayor of Maxwell Street. She meets Jay, a Biracial man who is white-passing and calls on him to help her with her investigation.

The premise was intriguing for me but the love/romance part of it fell a little short in my opinion.

This started strong and while I enjoyed it, I don't love where we went in the last third. It tells the story of Nelly, a rich Black debutante in 1920s Chicago society. Following the death of her brother, her journalistic aspirations lead her to track the Mayor of Maxwell Street - almost a mafia type figure who hides in the shadows. Along the way she enlists Jay to help, a man trying to carve out his own American dream.

I flitted between enjoying this and finding it a little too absurd. Nelly was an interesting protagonic, flawed and headstrong but well meaning. It painted a vibrant picture of Chicago and the people around Nelly. That said, it suffered from being a good 150 pages too long.

Nelly's relationship with Jay was intriguing, it's obviously early on that he's involved in the world she's investigating. But where we end up is such an unbelivably toxic place, I was tearing my hair out towards the end. All that means I'm not quite sure where I've come out on this one. I'll certainly be interested to read review once it's released.

Set in Prohibition era Chicago, Nelly comes home from the family's horse farm in Kentucky for her brother's funeral, but that is just the tip of the iceberg of a story.. Her family is the wealthiest Black family in American, but wealth doesn't bring peace. There is so much going on in this story: a Cotillion, mob families, murder, flirtations across racial lines, many surprises, and the mysterious Mayor of Maxwell Street. Please read the book summary to get the basics of the story.

I read this book because I love debut novels, it is set in an era I was interested in reading more about, it is set in Chicago, and it was written from the point of view of a well to do African American young woman. I enjoyed many of the characters because they had opinions that made people feel uncomfortable and other characters were just not nice people but I thought they had some depth and purpose to the story. Nelly is a character that you will either love or hate. I happened to like Nelly because she wanted to be a journalist and she didn't let what society and her father wanted to get in her way. Did she make some poor choices? Definitely. Did she stay true to herself? Definitely, until the end. Still processing how I feel about the Epilogue and Nelly's final choice. I was concerned about the length of the book, but I moved faster than I anticipated, so don't let the length put you off.

If you are looking for an interesting Prohibition era book from an African American perspective, I would recommend this book. I was entertained and had to finish to find out what happened to everyone.

Thank you Hyperion Avenue and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Mayor of Maxwell Street is the debut of Avery Cunningham - a story about a Black debutante in 1920s Chicago, who wants to be much more than the dutiful society maven she is expected to be.

So, when I say this book could have used an editor, I mean that an editor would have tightened up the bloated storytelling and unnecessary chapters that turned what could have been a brilliant book into an uneven, 520+ page tale.

Despite the claim on the book, there is no “epic love story” - there is a toxic, manipulative relationship between Nelly and Jay, and a safer, more cerebral relationship between Nelly and Tomas, but neither of these is epic, and as clever as Nelly is, it takes her a long time to figure out the main mystery, which is pretty obvious.

The pacing is problematic - pages and pages are devoted to side characters and details that could have been excised to make a better story, while major developments are brushed over quickly.

I was disappointed when I was finished because I had high hopes for this one.

I was so excited to start this one after reading the synopsis. I love historical fiction that takes you somewhere different than WWII and this book did just that. Chicago is such an interesting city and I loved reading about during this time period. I was not expecting the romance in this book to be so dark and that took away from my enjoyment of reading this one.