A Review of Let Us Dream, by Alyssa Cole

Let Us Dream is a beautifully brash romance novella, set just as New York State is preparing to vote on giving women access to the ballot. It is also a time when many immigrant groups were being denied the legal option to come to America. These two historical threads weave through the story to create its irresistible plot.

Setting

Harlem, New York, 1917

Main Characters

Bertha Hines wields absolute power in her club, but that club is a target of anti-vice organizations in the city. She is determined to help women, especially Black women and poor, working women, get the vote. She knows that voting won’t fix everything, but with the ability to vote, women can have a say in laws that are deeply impacting them. Her late husband was the last man who had any power over her, and she aims to keep it that way.

Amir Chowdery is a chef who jumped ship in New York to earn money to save his farm back in Bengal. But the US has declared that Asian immigrants need not apply, so he has to work under the table in whatever jobs he can get in order to keep himself afloat. Even washing dishes in the kitchen of a Harlem nightclub with a boss as demanding and stubborn as she is beautiful.

Romance

Bertha hires Amir because she needs someone who will show up, and she doesn’t care about his immigration status. He is a chef and not happy to be washing dishes, and they butt heads almost immediately.

But he sees her dance–an imperfect imitation of dances from his homeland–and hears her teaching the women who work for her about why they need the vote and how the government works, and he is enthralled. He offers her a trade. He will teach her how to correctly do the traditional dances he grew up with if she lets him listen in on the civics lessons. Dance lessons quickly lead to more.

Plot

New York’s vice squad is going after clubs like Bertha’s, and she can only keep them at bay for so long. As the vote on women’s suffrage nears, so do the police. When the moment arrives, she will have to decide between saving her club or saving Amir.

Historical Worldbuilding

As always, Alyssa Cole creates an immersive experience, taking readers right into Harlem during a period of massive change and energy, even as the US was joining in World War I. She evokes the setting with rich, perfectly chosen details like the searing hot metal comb the hairdresser uses to straighten Bertha’s hair before she heads to a suffrage meeting, to the boy collecting money for his numbers-running boss, to Amir having to use a kosher butcher becuase it was the closest thing to halal meat he could get in New York at the time.

The dynamics around the push to get women the vote are particularly evocative and nuanced, and spot-on historically, but they never overwhelm the story. The history and story bring each other to life in Cole’s skilled hands. So good!

Tropes

This is a boss-employee romance, with the woman being the boss. It is also a fish-out-of-water romance, with Amir being out of his cultural element.

Secondary Characters

The secondary characters in this novella are divine. Miss Q, the queen of the numbers racket, is both larger than life and right out the historical moment. Clara, the chef in Bertha’s club, is a powerful, delightful woman who lets Amir stretch his wings in the kitchen. The women at the suffrage meeting are realistically nuanced and illustrate the many layers of opposition Bertha is up against. Amir’s roommates are culturally on target, as well as being vibrant souls.

Point of View

The novel is written in close third person, alternating between Bertha’s and Amir’s viewpoints.

In Summary

• This is a steamy romance set in a Harlem nightclub during World War I, as New York State was voting on women’s suffrage. The history is integral to the story and brings it to urgent life.
• It takes place in Harlem, New York, in 1917.
• Bertha and Amir are so alive and layered, you would swear they were real people. It is impossible not to root for these two to get a chance at happily ever after!
• The historical detail is brilliant, as it always is with Alyssa Cole’s writing. The history is a key element of the characters and their romance.
• The tropes are workplace romance, with Bertha being the boss, and fish-out-of-water, with Amir being the one out of his element.
• The heat level is about a 2 out 5. It is sensual, and there is sex on the page, but it is brief and more about the emotion than the physical activity.
• It is set at a time of overt racism and sexism, and Cole doesn’t shy away from what her characters face, from both the public and the government.

Keep them Coming!

Please keep the tips coming! What other historical romances have you read that are set in the Americas and you think others might enjoy? Let’s share the love. Please email me or post in the comments below with suggestions of other titles!

Love historical romance? My novel Passion’s Duty is set during the war that set up the Revolution, and just came out on June 17. We are embarking on the 250th anniversary of the Revolution, so this is the perfect time to read it. Be sure to check it out!

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Edith Wilson photo courtesy of NYPL Photo Archives – Helen Armstead-Johnson photograph collection – William Davis, photographer, via Wikimedia Commons.

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