LIVONIA CHOW MEIN by Abigail Savitch-Lew

4 stars

In this debut novel, the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, packed with immigrants, takes center stage as the intriguing main character. In 1978, two young boys get paid $100 from a man in a car who calls them over to set a fire on the roof of a tenement building on Livonia Avenue. The fire destroys two buildings, killing one person and displacing everyone else. Tenant and community organizer Lina Rodriguez Armstrong has been convinced for decades that Richard Wong, the son of an immigrant who ran a Chinese restaurant on the second floor and who was the landlord of the Livonia Ave buildings, paid to start the fire.

For forty years, the burnt-out block stays vacant as Brownsville transforms from a crime and drug haven into an emerging hot spot for urban gentrification. Lina has continued her community organizational work, and is petitioning for the vacant Livinia lots

Sadie Chin, a recent graduate of Yale University, takes a reporter beat with a New York City paper, New Gotham, and sets out to write a feature on Brownsville, where her family had once lived and who warn her of even going there as she’ll put herself in danger of crime. Sadie’s working on connecting with people in the neighborhood when one elder accuses her of being the granddaughter of Richard Wong, “the murderer.”

At the same time as Sadie’s investigative work, we go back in time to learn the story of the Wong family from their roots in small town China to immigrating to Brooklyn. And their connection to Sadie herself, who is half Chinese and half Jewish.

All the stories powerfully converge amidst Sadie playing detective, while the history of people living across time in this cross-section of Brooklyn remains the star of the show.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.