Lush Lives

March 1, 2023

Artist Glory Hopkins isn't thrilled about inheriting her Aunt Lucille's Harlem brownstone until she meets dynamic house appraiser Parkie de Groot. Still, theirs is a rocky relationship, and the house presents its own subtle mysteries. The second title from Roxane Gay Books. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2023
A tale of romance and intrigue in the New York art world by art history professor and debut novelist Lyon. Queer, Black artist Glory Hopkins does not know why her great-aunt Lucille bequeathed her Harlem brownstone and all its possessions to her, but she willingly takes on the responsibility along with the new place to live and paint. When she brings a box of Lucille's things to Cuthbert's, a small but prestigious New York auction house, she meets tall, curvy redhead Parkie de Groot, who walks with a cane. Their attraction is instant and mutual, but they get off to a rocky start when Parkie doesn't take Lucille's items as seriously as Glory would like. This begins a pattern of Parkie not living up to Glory's standards. The major example: Parkie is in charge of an auction for an estate with a history of nasty exploitation (think Sackler but older money). Then again, Glory fails to disclose that she is up for representation by a blue-chip gallery that Parkie knows, firsthand, to have less than perfect morals. Meanwhile, a British powerhouse of Indian descent named Manya Shah has arrived to take the city's art scene by storm, represent Glory, and, if she has it her way, sleep with Glory, or Parkie, or both. And while all that is going on, a scrapbook of Lucille's may contain a lost manuscript of a Harlem luminary, unlocking fascinating secrets of Glory's great-aunt and promising a windfall (if the increasingly evil Madeline Cuthbert doesn't interfere). Lyon is clearly invested in illuminating the interior lives of her characters and showing how intersectionality is everywhere. Though the braided plotlines drive the characters' individual transformations, the book seems to shuttle between quiet moments of reflection, inside-baseball art world workings, and melodramatic events without quite finding balance. Like many of the not-quite sex scenes therein, this novel is both fun and frustrating.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 28, 2023
Lyon (The Groves) blends romance and family history with a scathing critique of the New York City art world in this sumptuous tale. Glory Hopkins, a Black queer painter, moves from Denver to the Harlem brownstone she’s inherited from her great-aunt Lucille. In the process of assessing Lucille’s belongings, she meets Parkie de Groot, a wealthy white woman who works for an auction house. As Parkie and Glory sift through the house’s moldered scrapbooks and artifacts, they begin an affair, their mutual attraction fueled and complicated by the professional possibilities they might provide each other. The stakes are raised after they find an unpublished manuscript that may have been written by Harlem Renaissance novelist Nella Larsen. Glory hopes to succeed as an artist and to get answers about her ancestors and the manuscript, but she has little patience for the cutthroat art scene, which seems to exist purely for the sake of people to be seen rather than to see art. “As far as Glory was concerned,” Lyon writes, “Chelsea was a shitshow. More evil than necessary.” With prose that turns on a dime from blistering to sensual, Lyon makes Glory an appealing and complex narrator. This is a treat. Agent: Jessica Alvarez, BookEnds Literary Agency.

Starred review from June 1, 2023

Two women's paths collide with hidden history in Lyon's debut print novel (after her Audible original novel The Groves). Glory Hopkins, a Black artist who has inherited her great-aunt Lucille's brownstone in Harlem, hopes to make her name in New York's art world. As Glory struggles to make meaning from Lucille's surprising bequest and all of her treasured possessions, she becomes involved with Parkie de Groot, a disabled auction-house appraiser who is as devoted to her work as she is attracted to Glory. Glory and Parkie have intoxicating chemistry, but their budding relationship quickly becomes complicated by questions of identity and ethics, as well as the growing understanding that they may have discovered an unusual literary document amongst Lucille's papers. Lyon writes a compelling and sexy story of the lives of queer women, both past and present, grounded in the beautifully drawn atmosphere of Harlem. The novel successfully blends real and speculative history to evoke what may hide in the silence of historical records. VERDICT This will appeal to readers who enjoy sapphic romance or literary mysteries and especially to those who enjoyed Nella Larsen's Passing.--Sierra Wilson

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2023
Glory Hopkins is an up-and-coming artist who inherits her great-aunt's Harlem brownstone along with a lifetime of Lucille's belongings. She brings them to an auction house, where she meets Parkie de Groot, a red-headed, blue-blooded auctioneer who walks with a cane and with whom Glory feels an immediate and mutual attraction. But before their relationship can develop past a much-delayed, very steamy night together, the world intervenes. Glory is courted both by Manya Shah, a hotshot gallerist who is also pursuing Parkie, and a more traditional gallery that will offer her lots of exposure but may treat her as a token Black artist. Meanwhile, Parkie's colleague makes an exciting discovery among Lucille's possessions, a manuscript that may have connections to the Harlem Renaissance, and Parkie is running her first auction for a family who got their money from slavery and pharmaceuticals. Glory won't cross the picket line for Parkie, but is it too much to expect Parkie to be perfect? Lyon's hot, perceptive novel grapples with navigating interracial relationships and issues of authenticity and selling out. The resolution of the manuscript story line reveals secrets about Lucille's life that resonate with Glory in the present, making for an unerringly satisfying read.

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