The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

The Davenports have wealth and privilege that is woven with a history of disadvantage and hope. This is a romance story that weaves the stories of the Davenport siblings, their friends and the incredible struggle to succeed for Afro-Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Davenport family are an anomaly of their time – a successful black American family in Chicago, who display all the trappings of wealth earned from their position as successful carriage builders, despite their history of slavery only years before. They balance lives that include shopping, banquets and balls, with the disdain and distrust of white residents  who look down on anyone with dark skin. The children in the family are at the point of making their own way in the world, but their parents are desperate to make sure that they escape the struggle that was a part of their own slave history. The consequence is that they live lives akin to an English Jane Austen novel, and the romantic notion for their future is impacted by different generational viewpoints. Can they choose their own path for the future, or must they have their lives and their loves directed by their parents? In this difficult environment there are also activists who are keen to make sure that the disgrace of past prejudice and slavery is wiped out and that black voices are heard and esteemed in America.

Essentially this is a romance story of the young main characters and their struggles to find their own paths in life. But it is also a story that speaks of success in the Afro-American world at the turn of the twentieth century – a story that is rarely heard, because it is rarely told. But because of the setting within a family of wealth, this story also feels like a companion text to Bridgerton or The Gilded Age. Occasionally the story feels a little too good to be believed, the romance is ‘sticky’ in its sweetness, but it also does not proceed smoothly for any of the characters and so rises above a saccharine or overly sentimental feel. Despite that, this is still a book for the lovers of romance, or for those who are fascinated to read from a perspective that is not white, patriarchal and condescending. For the author and those of her Afro-American heritage it also relates a narrative that they have seldom seen in literature, marked by success and drive, hopes and determination.

Themes: Dreams, Hopes, Afro-American history, Race relations, Romance, Automobile history, Activism.

Carolyn Hull