Saint Mazie

In Jami Attenberg’s historical novel Saint Mazie (2015), set during New York City’s Jazz Age, a party girl starts a diary after she begins working behind the ticket counter of a local movie theater. Critics praise the book for its colorful characters and its bold heart. Attenberg is a popular author who writes primarily for adult audiences. She uses her own experiences of living in New York City for over twenty years to inform her novels and enrich the characterization. She is best known for writing witty, character-driven books.

As the book opens, a documentarian finds a diary belonging to Mazie Phillips Gordon. Around ninety years old, the diary describes, in detail, what it’s like to live in New York City’s Lower East Side during the Jazz Age and the Great Depression. The documentarian shares the diary with others so they can learn more about American history and this incredible woman.

Mazie grows up in Boston with her sisters Rosie and Jeanie. They don’t have an easy home life. Mazie’s father, Horvath, drinks constantly and beats up their mother, Ada. Ada spends her life trying to keep Horvath happy; she takes the beatings so that he doesn’t turn his temper on the girls. At just ten years old, Mazie wants to find a safe space of her own.



Rosie, the eldest, marries Louis. She moves to New York City, inviting Mazie and Jeanie to move in with them. For the first time, Mazie feels safe and happy. She gets a part-time job working in Louis’s candy shop. While she doesn’t enjoy working as a shop assistant, she loves meeting new people and learning more about New York City. She also enjoys the occasional free candy.

As Mazie grows older, she turns to men for attention. Rosie worries about her because the family can’t afford to look after a baby if she gets pregnant. Louis suggests that Mazie work at his movie theatre, the Venice, to make extra money but also to stop her from sleeping around so much. Rosie fears that Mazie will only meet more men there.

For Mazie, the Venice is a nightmare. It’s boring and she can’t drink or party every night. Meanwhile, Jeanie falls in love with a vet, Ethan Fallow. She meets him at the racetrack, which upsets Mazie because she loves the racetrack and she can’t go anymore because she works every night. Assuming that she will turn into a spinster, Mazie pushes everyone away.



On a rare night off, Mazie heads to a local bar. Here she meets Captain Benjamin Hazzard, and they sleep together that night. A while later, Mazie discovers that she is pregnant. She is terrified to tell Rosie, but when Rosie confesses that she is struggling to conceive, Mazie asks if she wants Mazie’s child. Rosie is delighted; she can’t wait to meet the baby. However, Mazie miscarries and everyone ends up miserable all over again.

Louis moves the family to Coney Island for a fresh start. Now it is Jeanie’s turn to be unhappy, and she runs away to join a dance troupe. When Prohibition is introduced, it becomes harder to find legitimate dance work, but Jeanie does well in the underground circuit. Mazie is happy that Jeanie found a place where she belongs even if she still feels lost and alone.

Before long, Jeanie comes home again. Jeanie describes how, between breaking her leg and passing a sexually transmitted disease around the troupe, the lead performer eventually asked her to leave. Mazie doesn’t have time to look after Jeanie because she works such long hours at the Venice. When she’s not working in the ticket office, she helps the homeless people who sleep rough around the local streets. She gives them whatever money or food she has to spare, earning the nickname “Saint Mazie.”



The family’s troubles worsen when Louis dies. Rosie and Mazie find out that Louis was in business with shady people; they must pay these men off or else they will harass the family forever. Louis has cash stashed around the home and the Venice, and the sisters must find out who it all belongs to and what debts he owes. Jeanie, recovered, moves to Los Angeles. Mazie resents how Jeanie runs away from responsibility while she is burdened with looking after Rosie and putting food on the table.

Mazie meets Sister Tee, a nun. Sister Tee wants to set up a refuge for the local homeless and vulnerable people, but she doesn’t have any money. Torn between loyalty to her family and helping her favorite homeless people, Mazie squirrels away some of Louis’s cash and gives it to Sister Tee, who sets up the refuge, but soon dies from breast cancer. Mazie runs the refuge in Sister Tee’s name.