Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Vengeance is in the family, and the family is a bond like no other…
It’s the worst year of the Great Depression, and America needs all the hope it can get. The Chicago World’s Fair, a glittery city-within-a-city, becomes a symbol of the good that’s yet to come. But every utopia has a seedy side—and that’s Rosa Mancuso’s world. As the mysterious Madame Mystique she mixes magic with a dose of bare skin burlesque, bringing customers to the home of the Fair’s carnival rides and spectacles.
Rosa doesn’t perform for fame, though. She has come from Mussolini’s Italy to America, where she’s plotting her revenge for the murders of her family. The perpetrator will soon arrive at the World’s Fair via a celebrated Italian air fleet, and Rosa is determined to be prepared.
But when her estranged cousin, Mina, comes to her desperate for help, with a dangerous mobster close on her heels, Rosa agrees to protect Mina and her new baby, born across the color line. With the clock ticking, Rosa decides the only way to survive is to make vengeance a family affair and prompt everyone to, at last, confront the sins from their pasts.
A gripping story of retribution, belonging, and survival, Sinners of Starlight City boldly explores the complexity of identities straddling ethnic lines and asks, who gets to decide who we are and where we belong?
The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair provided a needed respite from the suffering taking place during the Great Depression. With rides, games, and exhibits, the event drew crowds of all ages.
Serving as the backdrop for author Anika Scott’s new historical fiction story, the Fair plays a vital role in a woman’s efforts to seek revenge regarding the loss of her family.
Sinners of Starlight City alternates between two initially unrelated storylines. The first, told in first-person by Rosa Mancuso, outlines her quest for revenge. As Madame Mystique, she uses magic tricks along with her beauty to captivate audiences while waiting for an elite squadron from Italy to arrive. Among that group is the man who killed her family in Italy.
The second storyline features a mobster’s pregnant daughter whose family intends to separate her from her biracial baby once it’s born. The premature baby ends up in an incubator at the Fair as part of a demonstration of healthcare innovation and later serves as a unifying force.
The two-story threads come together in a beautifully woven plot that is utterly captivating. With interesting characters, including some horrific villains, the story highlights the impact revenge can have on a person’s perspective.
From start to finish, Sinners of Starlight City delivers a fascinating story of old secrets finally coming to light.
Anika Scott was a journalist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Chicago Tribune before moving to Germany, where she currently lives in Essen with her husband and two daughters. She has worked in radio, taught journalism seminars at an eastern German university, and written articles for European and American publications. Originally from Michigan, she grew up in a car industry family. Scott is the author of the internationally bestselling novel The German Heiress.
