No. 10 Doyers Street by Radha Vatsal
New York City, 1907. Archana Morley knows what it's like to be an outsider. As a woman journalist from India making her way through the cutthroat world of tabloid newspapers, she's always on the lookout for untold stories.
In the aftermath of a bloody shooting in Chinatown, Archana finds her most challenging subject-the dreaded gangster Mock Duck. But she realizes that things are not as they seem when the mayor declares Chinatown must be demolished, and the authorities raid Mock's home and tear apart his family. She embarks on a quest for the truth that leads her from gritty alleys to the back-room politics of City Hall and beyond.
Inspired by real events, No. 10 Doyers Street is a gripping novel of New York City on the cusp of modernity, as seen through a unique immigrant perspective.
Radha Vatsal’s riveting story of early 1900s Chinatown will pin you to your seat. Her deft writing has rendered legendary gangster Mock Duck an empathetic character. Vatsal’s intrepid journalist narrator uses wit and pen to stride through prejudice and red tape, and pulls along the reader to find what we’re all looking for: The truth.”
—Ed Lin, author of Ghost Month and David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College
Vatsal has wonderfully captured 1900s Chinatown, breathing life into the complicated character of gangster Mock Duck ... Gentrification, mixed-race identity and discrimination against immigrants are all evergreen issues that come to light through Vatsal’s protagonist, a South Asian female journalist. No. 10 Doyers Street reflects a new stage of reality-based fiction—a pan-Asian exploration of American history.”
—Naomi Hirahara, Edgar and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of the Mas Arai mysteries and the best-selling Japantown mysteries
Gripping and vibrantly original. Radha Vatsal has a gift for unearthing those seemingly small moments that change the course of history. Both a brilliant tale of the plot to destroy New York City's Chinatown and a heartbreaking courtroom drama, No. 10 Doyers Street is a fresh, unforgettable look at 1900s New York.”
—— Mariah Fredericks, author of The Wharton Plot
More praise for No. 10 Doyers Street
Doyers Street, Chinatown, New York City
George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.
Doyers Street, along with Pell and Mott Streets, forms the heart of Chinatown. Doyers earned the nickname “the Bloody Angle,” because of the gunfights that took place at its sharp bend. Warring gangs would attack each other and then run around the corner out of sight. Mock Duck, the legendary gangster lived at No. 10, Doyers Street.
Sai Wing Mock (aka Mock Duck) (1879–July 23, 1941) was the Chinese-American leader of the Hip Sing Tong, and one of the most feared gangsters of the early 20th Century.
