When I started "The Great Mistake," I thought Andrew Haswell Green must be a fictional character--how could one person be responsible for so much of what makes New York great? The public library, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum were all developed by this man, who began life as a New England farm boy. Even though his achievements are mind-boggling, Andrew Green is best known for having been shot on the front steps of his home in 1903 by a Black man looking for "Mrs. Davis." Did Andrew Green know her? Who was she? Who was he for that matter?

I found the most intriguing part of this story the unlikeliness of this man's rise to fame. Unloved at home, sent to New York to apprentice at a general store, skinny, shy, attracted to men, uneducated, what did he have that rocketed him to the pinnacle of New York society?

Jonathan Lee balances Green's unlikely rise and surprising murder at age 83 nicely. Who was this man, companion of attorney and presidential candidate Samuel Tilden ("companion" is the right word--their relationship consisted of secretly holding hands or gentle shoulder touches) who reimagined the New York we know today?

"The Great Mistake" can be a little slow, but the story is so surprising that you'll stay with it. Thanks to Knopf and Netgalley for access to this title.

~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader.