The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

THE PARAGON HOTEL by Lyndsay Faye is an exciting mystery and a fun read with serious undertones, described as “blending film noir and screwball comedy” by The Wall Street Journal. This new novel, set mostly in the Prohibition-era 1920s, revolves around Alice James (who is called Nobody for her ability to fade into the background).  It alternates between her life in New York’s Harlem, where she works for The Spider and his gang fighting the Clutched Hand and organized crime, and her escape to Portland, Oregon where she recovers from bullet wounds at The Paragon, the city’s Black owned and run hotel.   

On both coasts, readers meet Alice’s friends and associates, adopted families of a sort. These include childhood playmate Nicolo Benenati, Harry Chipchase (a corrupt cop), Blossom Fontaine (an African American singer), and do-gooder Evelina Vaughan (also wife of Portland’s Chief of Police), plus many more. On the West Coast, a little mulatto boy goes missing and the Klan is becoming increasingly active and brazen in their threatening actions. Alice sets out to help her friends and solve the disappearance while also reflecting on the actions which brought her to Portland.  Throughout, her voice is caustic and observant:

“The truth is, I’ve been shoving thoughts underwater like unwanted puppies.  When your world is emptied, you cling to strangers…”

“I remember fleeing New York, still adrift with the shock and clutching my carpetbag as if it were a tree limb midriver.”

And describing the teacher of the weekly Self-Betterment classes at The Paragon as “top drawer in a very tall bureau.”

As the author notes explain, Faye’s historical fiction is based on fact and she uses excerpts from local papers and period speeches to encourage readers to think about Oregon’s racist history, including the Klan’s slogan advocating America First.  For more on the Klan in this time period, especially in the northern states, see Linda Gordon’s The Second Coming of the KKK. Definitely worth a read, THE PARAGON HOTEL received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and Library Journal.

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows has become one of my favorite titles of the year so far, due in large part to the feisty heroine, twelve-year-old Willa.  For me, Willa’s blend of persistence, ferocious devotion, and concern for others recalled other young characters like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird (who we will be talking about later this summer when Go Set a Watchman is published) and clever, but sometimes too trusting Flavia de Luce from Alan Bradley’s mysteries.

Part romance, part mystery and all rural, small town America, The Truth According to Us takes place during the summer of 1938 In Macedonia, West Virginia. There, Layla Beck, a Senator’s daughter finding work in the Federal Writers’ Project arrives to chronicle the history of the town as it celebrates its 150^th anniversary. Layla meets the first families and several eccentric residents while exploring the town's founding, religious revivals, and stories from the War between the States. She even falls for a bootlegger while boarding at Willa’s house run by devoted Aunt Jottie (Josephine) Romeyn who says, “Whatever gave you the idea we were like everybody else?” and “to be clever in a town like Macedonia is something of a social hazard.”  

The Truth According to Us describes innocence and secrets, confidences and lies.  Readers will have insight into the social customs and class structure of Depression-era Appalachia through letters, conversations and musings. It is a longer read, but I enjoyed the summer days I spent with Willa and think you will feel transported, too.

Annie Barrows co-authored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. In her notes for The Truth According to Us, she references The Dream and the Deal which describes the Federal Writers’ Project as does The Soul of a People which is available from the public libraries as both a book and DVD; its trailer is embedded here: