Publisher's Synopsis
'The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore with Chicago at its beating heart.' Twenty-year-old Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of the alleged 'wealthiest Negro in America,' whose wealth catapulted his family to the heights of Black society. After the unexpected death of her brother, Nelly becomes the premier debutante overnight. But Nelly has aspirations beyond marriage. For the past year, she has worked undercover as an investigative journalist, sharing the achievements and tribulations of everyday Black people living in the shadow of Jim Crow. Now, her latest assignment thrusts her into the den of a dangerous vice lord: the so-called Mayor of Maxwell Street. Born in rural Alabama to a murdered biracial couple, Jay Shorey knows firsthand what it means to be denied a chance at the American dream. When a tragic turn of fate gave Jay a rare path out, he took it without question. He washed up on Chicago's storied shores and forged his own way t
