Berkley
When the final line is read and you find that it is difficult to extricate yourself from the world that swallowed you whole, you have found yourself a good novel. As George Saunders once said, good writing "enlivens that part of us that actually believes we are in this world, right now, and that being here somehow matters." Writing duo Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray have accomplished just that with their latest historical novel, A Pair of Aces. Set in 1930s New York City, at the height of mob life, Benedict and Murray give us two women on opposite ends of the law who must join forces to bring down the head of the five largest crime families – Lucky Luciano.
Assistant District Attorney Eunice Carter, a character based on the real person, is the city's first Black prosecutor. Her work makes Black people throughout Harlem proud – and women everywhere take note of a Black woman front and center in the trial of the century. But as a woman who chooses to focus on her career in this era, Eunice Carter not only has to fight to hold her spot on the prosecutor's team among white male colleagues, she's also waging a battle at home against a husband who believes she should quit. High-class brothel owner Polly Adler, also based on the real person, runs one of the best and safest brothels in New York City. Well-known names frequent "Polly's" for her booze, beauties, and bold persona. She, too, has women looking up to her – her "girls," she calls them – and she will do anything to protect their safety and financial well-being. She's always strived to be the best, even as she keeps that life hidden from her own family, which she supports with the very money the flesh trade brings in. In the novel, both women are career-driven – and both women find their careers threatened the moment Lucky Luciano enters the picture.
