Leslye Penelope’s latest book is set around 1920s U Street—call it a historical fantasy heist novel, if you must—but it succeeds in vividly evoking a lost DC and also creating something new.
is her first novel set in the DC area, and she was in part drawn to Clara’s story as a way to grapple with the police brutality and racial-justice protests that swept the country in 2020. But Penelope says she didn’t want to write another story in which white people were the villains; instead, she hoped to find threads that connect the past and the present—and to explore conflicts within the African American community that still resonate today, such as classism and colorism.
“It’s a story about Black people in our community dealing with our own stuff, amongst ourselves,” she explains. “That was powerful to me, because I don’t see that as much” in contemporary fiction.Penelope also wanted to create a portrait of U Street during a period when it was a vital center of Black success and talent. “DC is a place that doesn’t get written about enough” in novels, she says. “I liked the idea of taking a snapshot of U Street at that moment in time.
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