Dollface: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties
Read Dollface: A Novel of the Roaring Twenties Online
Authors: Renée Rosen
Tags: #Fiction, #Historical
Dollface
Rosen, Renée
Penguin Group, USA (2013)
America in the 1920s was a country alive with the wild fun of jazz, speakeasies, and a new kind of woman -- the flapper.
Vera Abramowitz is determined to leave her gritty childhood behind and live a more exciting life, one that her mother never dreamed of. Bobbing her hair and showing her knees, the lipsticked beauty dazzles, doing the Charleston in nightclubs and earning the nickname "Dollface.”
As the ultimate flapper, Vera captures the attention of two high rollers, a handsome nightclub owner and a sexy gambler. On their arms, she gains entrée into a world filled with bootleg bourbon, wailing jazz, and money to burn. She thinks her biggest problem is choosing between them until the truth comes out. Her two lovers are really mobsters from rival gangs during Chicago’s infamous Beer Wars, a battle Al Capone refuses to lose.
The heady life she’s living is an illusion resting on a bedrock of crime and violence unlike anything the country has ever seen before. When the good times come to an end, Vera becomes entangled in everything from bootlegging to murder. And as men from both gangs fall around her, Vera must put together the pieces of her shattered life, as Chicago hurtles toward one of the most infamous days in its history, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
PRAISE FOR
DOLLFACE
“
Dollface
is as intoxicating as the forbidden liquor at the heart of it. Rosen’s Chicago gangsters are vividly rendered, and the gun molls stir up at least as much trouble as their infamous men. Fans of
Boardwalk Empire
will love
Dollface
. I know I did.”
—Sara Gruen,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Water for Elephants
“Gun molls and the gangsters they love spring to life in
Dollface
, Renée Rosen’s lush novel set at the height of the Roaring Twenties. Her skill at maintaining the balance between thrilling plot turns and rich character development is evident on every page. Pour yourself a glass of gin, turn up the jazz, and prepare to lose yourself in the unforgettable story of a quintessential flapper.”
—Tasha Alexander,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Death in the Floating City
“Renée Rosen has combined her daring and vivid imagination with the rich history of Prohibition-era Chicago.
Dollface
is a lively, gutsy romp of a novel that will keep you turning pages.”
—Karen Abbott,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Sin in the Second City
“
Dollface
sheds a new light on Prohibition-era gangsters when we see them through the eyes of the women who kept their secrets and shared their beds. Rosen’s Chicago is bursting with booze, glamour, sex, and power.” —Kelly O’Connor McNees, author of
In Need of a Good Wife
PRAISE FOR THE WORK OF RENÉE ROSEN
“Quirky and heartfelt.”
—
Chicago Tribune
“Beautifully written, and with larger-than-life characters, this book will remain in readers’ hearts for a long time to come.”
—
School Library Journal
“A heartfelt coming-of-age story, told with the perfect combination of humor and drama.”
—
Chicago Sun-Times
“Absorbing. . . .As Rosen evokes her setting with a wealth of details . . . [readers] will empathize with the narrator’s unique situation as a concentrated form of universal worries about finding acceptance, dealing with loss, and leaving home.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“An astonishingly deep and thought-provoking debut novel.”
—Young Adult Books Central
New American Library
Published by the Penguin Group
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New York, New York 10014
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
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A Penguin Random House Company
First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Copyright © Renée Rosen, 2013
Readers Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2013
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Rosen, Renée.
Dollface: a novel of the roaring twenties/Renée Rosen.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-1-101-61771-7
1. Nineteen twenties—Fiction. 2. Young women—Illinois—Chicago—Fiction.
3. Organized crime—Illinois—Chicago—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3618.O83156E94 2007
813'.6—dc23 2012051794
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
THE HANDSHAKE AND THE SIN CAKE
FINDING OUT WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF
HAULING THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CAN’T SEE STRAIGHT
THE DRY SPELL HAS BEEN BROKENREPEAL, 1933
For Joe Esselin, teacher, playwright, poet, and dear friend.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I offer my heartfelt thanks to my friends and colleagues for their support while I was writing this novel: Jill Bernstein, Irma Bueno, Dennis Rosenthal, Chris Lee, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Jonathan Santlofer, Craig Alton, Karen Abbott, Brian Wilson, Javier Ramirez, Stefan Moorehead, Suzy Takacs, Tasha Alexander, Andrew Grant, Nick Hawkins, Kelly O’Connor McNees, Amy Sue Nathan, Andy Gross, Jhanteigh Kupihea, Rick Kogan, Chuck Osgood, Beth Treleven, Stephanie Nelson, Lisa and Mark Fine, Lisa Kotin, Karen Call, Ron Plass, Bill Lederer, and David Lewis.
Along the way, I had the good fortune to work with Peternelle van Arsdale, who provided invaluable editorial guidance and said the magic words, “Move the men to the sidelines and give your women their due.”
Had I not taken that step, my book never would have landed in the skillful hands of my editor, Claire Zion, who helped me take this book further than I ever thought possible. I’m a better writer today for having worked with you. And special thanks to my agent, Kevan Lyon. You continue to amaze me with your dedication and patience. All writers should be so lucky as to have an agent like you.
My love and gratitude to Pam and Andy Jaffe; Jerry and Andrea Rosen; Joey Perilman; Devon Rosen, my father, whose memory will never fade; and especially to my mother, Deborah “Pyack” Rosen, who has been my rock and has encouraged me every step of the way—“thank you” doesn’t begin to cover it.
Last, a special thanks goes to Mindy Mailman for always bringing the funny and always being there. To Brenda Klem, my “frem,” for your patience and countless brainstorming sessions, for reading and always cheering me on. To Sara Gruen, my critique partner and sister separated at birth, thank you for believing and for not letting me give up on this novel. You told me so! And to Joe Esselin, this one’s for you.