In the City by the Lake

The roaring 20s was a time of prohibitions and freedoms. This book is obviously very well researched and brings such an amazing realism to the story that you almost feel like the only reason you can't look these men up in a history book is because they flew under the radar. It's a taste of American history with a veneer of fiction.

The entire novel beautifully foregrounds the relationship between Cal and Vik, but truly focuses on Vik's reflections and fears. While he presents himself as a skeptic and tries his best to tell himself he can't afford emotions, his inner monologue can be poetic and regularly dramatic. Assonance features at times in desperate, romantic appeals to Cal, particularly when Vik's own outward stoicism results in a mess of vulnerability in his private narrations.
The intimacy between the two is generally playful and always genuine, while Vik navigates through previously unexperienced emotions of jealousy and tenderness. With Cal's bright and bubbly contrast to Viktor, I expected the boring trope of 'the moody, aloof guy tops.' Not so, nor does the novel rely on gratuitous sex scenes to determine this.

The novel often hits hard, something I was expecting but was still unprepared for when those moments came. His whole family dynamic is a mess; striving to be his father's favourite son after his mother died in labour, his brother staying out of the family business of organised crime to become someone through education, and his blessing of a cousin, Maks, the single light of genuine familial love that grates on Vik's nerves for some (absolutely no conceivable) reason.
And Rosie, a queen of Towertown who our protagonist somehow finds repulsive for their melancholy state and occupation as a sex worker, provides a character heavily implied as queer in both sexuality and gender. Introduced as a drag queen performing at Vik's favoured establishment, their story is the one that offers the most insight into the harsher aspects of the time.
Affected by the end of Prohibition, the Great Depression, and increasing persecution against queer individuals, Viktor's narration never falters to centre his own struggles without diminishing the wider issues of the time.

Taylor Saracen certainly knows her way around the English language. She penned a novel that is poignant and captivating. In the City by the Lake is part character study, part history lesson that provide a backdrop for an unforgettable romance.

Viktor, a Russian emigrant and low level mobster, narrates this story. A complex character, full of self-hate whose father fanned those flames at a tender age subsequent to his mother’s death in childbirth. He’s broody with a dash of misanthropy and seems to find suffering his norm. Even though everyone calls him a pessimist they all seem to enjoy being around him; he, of course, thinks himself a realist. A realist moored to the notion that he’s destined to be alone forever. A realist who despite this belief becomes hopelessly besotted by Abe’s Peach upon first sight.



Viktor has always traveled light, making due with one offs and decidedly closeted. Because Russian mafia. Ironically, he's assigned the Towerton district, the gay mecca of 20s and 30s Chicago. Abe owns The Gallery and shelters, among other things, several of his employees including a man he calls “Peach”.

Peach a.k.a. Cal Connolly hails from Georgia, is a ginger and Viktor’s polar opposite-outgoing, gregarious and effervescent, shining like a beacon in a sky full of stars. Right from the start Viktor wants him but doesn’t want to jeopardize his lucrative relationship with Abe, thus the pining begins and it was delicious. He feels unworthy of Cal, recognizing he's a creature of darkness whereas Cal is a creature of the light. Afraid of dimming that luminescence, he endeavors to keep his distance.

A fool's errand if ever there were one.



In the City by the Lake spans from 1929-1937 starting during the “Pansy Craze” and encompasses the denouement of the halcyon days of the Roaring Twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, The New Deal and the fountainhead of WWII. Saracen clearly did her research which in turn had me doing some cursory research of my own. I knew nothing of the Pansy Craze nor of Chicago's instrumental role in it, so references to actual events that I never knew about, some magnificent and others ghastly, prodded me to look for myself.


left is roaring 20s; right is 30s homophobia

Imagine going from the toast of every major metropolitan city, living openly and thriving to being rounded up and put into “fruitcake factories” or worse. I didn’t do extensive research but I believe this epoch marked the emergence of conversion therapy. Parallels between then and now with the outlandish correlations made, xenophobia, homophobia and conservative backlash were hard to miss; the queers got blamed for everything from heinous crimes to the Great Depression itself. It seemed to be particularly bad in Chicago where rampant charges of indecency were handed out, many of which flaunted entrapment laws and fear mongering in the press was egregious.



Naturally, this leads to conflict as they are forced to endure Chicago as it becomes increasingly less friendly to the “pansies”. But what amazed and delighted me was even though things are bleak with a sense of foreboding for what lies ahead, they still carve out moment after moment of joy and happiness. They have next to nothing and are systematically being persecuted but they have each other. Even if its just going to a Cubs game or going to Bughouse Square or making a feast of Campbell's soup, they reveled in it. They don’t escape totally unscathed and trigger warning for secondary character death (that gutted me) but there is a glorious, hard fought and an HEA that, honestly, I was momentarily unsure was going to happen.

In the City by the Lake is not a sexy book; there are only oblique references to sex or fade to black scenes. However, what it lacks in sexiness it makes up for with a certain air of a bygone era romance that's all-consuming for the protagonists and swept me away right along with them.



The depth and breadth of Vik’s love for Cal was powerful and affecting due in large part to Saracen’s crafting of him. The dialogue stays true to the time period and all of the characters are compelling to varying degrees. The narrative was engaging and the world building, though I think it goes without saying at this point, was fascinating.



If you’re a fan of historical romance, In the City by the Lake shouldn't be missed. It's a remarkable achievement from new to me author Taylor Saracen; one that has put her on my radar.



A copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you again NetGalley for a copy of this book. The story is well written with detailed facts taking place in the "Roaring Twenties" and time of prohobition as well as great depression. And of two men falling in love with each other. They suffer denial, homophobia and how they have been brought up. It easily could be a story at present times too. I highly recommend this book I could have continued reading.

This novel is an LGBTQ romance set during the 1920s and 30s with the backdrop of the great depression. The main character, Vik, is a gay bootlegger during prohibition who makes a living providing the gay clubs of Chicago with their much needed supplies of liquor. He's also from a family of Russian immigrants and the novel frequently depicts Vik struggling to come to terms with his adopted country. Although Vik freely sleeps with other men, he also struggles to identify himself as a homosexual man, fearing that identifying himself as such will result in a lessening of his manhood. From a teacher's perspective, the author nicely incorporates some setting imagery to describe the decay and common struggles of Chicago during the Great Depression. It also depicts the onslaught of Victorian values that began to crop up during that time - which resulted in the persecution of many members of the queer community. It provides ample opportunity (especially in a history class) to generate a class discussion around the social conditions of the time. Overall the greatest triumph of this book is the character development and the personal journey of the main character, Vik. He spends most of the novel working on building his own self-worth and is hastened along by his lover Cal. The character transformation is done deliberately and well and lends itself to a great character study in an English Class or Queer Studies Curriculum.

The author did a brilliant job of capturing the time period in this novel. The characters and plot were also well written. This was a great piece of historical fiction!

In the City by the Lake, Viktor, a half-Jewish Russian emigre, lives a life of quiet desperation as a low-grade mobster in Chicago from 1929 to 1938. Raised in an all-male family (his mother died birthing him), his Weltanschauung is skewed. He’s a tortured character knowing he is a gay male in a family of manly men. He lives in the closet, misanthropic and misogynic, certain of the reception his family would have if they learned of his inclinations. He always feels that he is merely realistic—rather than fatalistic—and that if he ever found someone to love, he wouldn’t deserve it anyway.

Chicago provides a bleak backdrop that echoes Vik’s personality. During Prohibition, he is financially doing okay, at least able to set some money aside, as he arranges deliveries of alcohol to Towertown, the gay section of the city. Here he meets Cal. Effervescent Cal, is so much Vik’s opposite that he feels the man is unattainable. When these two finally allow themselves to love each other, the

Saracen’s world-building is superlative; her story is overlaid over the last of the Roaring Twenties, prohibition, the Stock Market crash, the rise of Nazism in Europe. As the United States recovers from the Great Depression, newspapers circulate story after story blaming homosexuals (the Pansy Craze) for the downward spiral of the economy. Parts of this book are difficult to read because of man’s inhumanity to his queer fellow men.

In the City by the Lake is a gorgeous character study of a man coming to terms with himself and a romance that is poignant enough to bring me to tears. There are no overt sex acts here, but the sensuality is over-the-top, the emotionality is genuine. Their dialogue is appropriate, their voices laced with slang of the time. Vik’s voice constantly tries fathom his own struggles while dealing with broader societal issues.

This is not my usual genre as it is an LBGTQ romance but I really enjoyed it. It takes place during the 1920s and 1930s during the "pansy craze." Viktor Mikhailov is a member of the Russian mob along with his family. He supplies the Towertown gay clubs with whiskey. He knows he is gay but he does not want his family to find out. He meets Calvin Connolly, a gay man from Georgia, at one of the gay clubs and a romance develops. This is a very well written book and I am glad I read it.

Great historical fiction piece. Set in the roaring 20’s, we see a story filled with great detail and a history lesson included! Very well developed characters and great story! A must read!
Thank you NetGalley