The great mann A novel

Painfully realizing a warm welcome did not exist for him in Virginia after the end of WWII, young veteran Charlie accepted his cousin Margie's invitation to come to California. Margie had told Charlie life was very different in Los Angeles for African Americans, but nothing prepared him for Margie's high-end community known as Sugar Hill, complete with wealthy men and women who looked like him. In 1945, racial tensions are high in Sugar Hill, while an enigmatic man known as Reaper throws opulent parties for Hollywood stars and the Black elite. For her historical fiction debut, Davis Lurie drew inspiration from a scene in The Great Gatsby depicting the novelty of wealthy African Americans, wanting to tell a story about this very real yet often overlooked past. Closely paralleling F. Scott Fitzgerald's original novel, her retelling adds profound depth through social commentary with its portrayal of an affluent, Black L.A. community along with the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood.