
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
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Narrated by:
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Bahni Turpin
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By:
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Avery Cunningham
About this listen
"A debut novel everyone will be talking about", Avery Cunningham's epic love story is "a triumph" and "a tale of intrigue, racial tension, and class warfare, set against the glamorous and gritty backdrop of early 20th century Chicago".
When a rich Black debutante enlists the help of a low-level speakeasy manager to identify the head of an underground crime syndicate, the two are thrust into the dangerous world of Prohibition-era Chicago.
The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore, and Chicago is its beating heart.
Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of the “wealthiest Negro in America”, whose affluence catapulted his family to the heights of Black society. After the unexpected death of her only brother, Nelly becomes the premier debutante overnight. But Nelly has aspirations beyond society influence and marriage. For the past year, she has worked undercover as an investigative journalist, sharing the achievements and tribulations of everyday Black people living in the shadow of Jim Crow. Her latest assignment thrusts her into the den of a dangerous vice lord: the so-called Mayor of Maxwell Street.
Born in rural Alabama to a murdered biracial couple, Jay Shorey knows firsthand what it means to be denied a chance at the American dream. When a tragic turn of fate gave Jay a rare path out, he took it without question. He washed up on Chicago’s storied shores and forged his own way to the top of the city’s underworld, running Chicago's swankiest speakeasy, where the rich and famous rub elbows with gangsters and politicians alike.
When Nelly’s and Jay’s paths cross, she recruits him to help expose the Mayor and bring about lasting change in a corrupt city. But Jay also introduces a whole new world to Nelly, one where her horizons can extend beyond the confines of her ivory tower. Trapped between the monolith of Jim Crow, the inflexible world of the Black upper class, and the violence of Prohibition-era Chicago, Jay and Nelly work together and stoke the flames of a love worth fighting for.
Debut author Avery Cunningham’s stunning novel is at once an epic love story, a riveting historical drama, and a brilliant exploration of Black society and perseverance when the ‘20s first began to roar.
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About the Creator

About the Performer
-
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
- By: Avery Cunningham
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore, and Chicago is its beating heart. Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of the “wealthiest Negro in America”, whose affluence catapulted his family to the heights of Black society. After the unexpected death of her only brother, Nelly becomes the premier debutante overnight. But Nelly has aspirations beyond society influence and marriage.
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Better Ending next time!
- By Matt & Lindsy on 02-11-24
Give me the ole razzle-dazzle!
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Story
For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly.
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Tiresome
- By nkevinsc on 03-05-15
By: Tasha Alexander
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Carolina Built
- By: Kianna Alexander
- Narrated by: Shayna Small, Leon Nixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Josephine N. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina, from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married, and ready to follow her dreams. As the demands of life pull Josephine’s attention away, it becomes increasingly difficult for her to pursue her real estate aspirations. She finds herself immersed in deepening her marriage, mothering her daughters, and being a dutiful daughter and granddaughter.
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WOMEN: Dream Plan Work Achieve
- By Nana on 02-28-22
By: Kianna Alexander
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When Stars Rain Down
- By: Angela Jackson-Brown
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends.
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Better than I could imagine!
- By Kindle Customer on 02-27-25
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Patience Is a Subtle Thief
- A Novel
- By: Abi Ishola-Ayodeji
- Narrated by: Liz Femi
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
For as long as she can remember, Patience Adewale, the eldest daughter of Chief Kolade Adewale, has been waiting for confirmation that she is loved, that there is a place where she truly belongs. Patience lives a sheltered life within the secure walls of the family’s mansion in Ibadan, but finds no comfort from her distant father and stepmother Modupe. Her only ally is her younger sister, yet even Margaret’s love and support cannot overcome Patience’s insecurity and uncertainty.
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Patience
- By Black Butterfly on 07-09-22
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Zeal
- A Novel
- By: Morgan Jerkins
- Narrated by: January LaVoy, Shayna Small
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants. As Tirzah's family moves across the country during the Great Migration, they challenge authority with devastating consequences, while of the legacy of heartbreak and loss continues on in the lives of Harrison's progeny.
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Beautiful
- By Courtney Pipkin on 06-21-25
By: Morgan Jerkins
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My Name Is Ona Judge
- By: Suzette D. Harrison
- Narrated by: Tovah Ott, Aure Nash
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Rain soaks Tessa Scott as she runs from her car to the old vine-covered property she has been called to survey. She’s too busy to accept a new job, but doing this favor for the grandmother of her childhood sweetheart delays a painful decision she must make about her controlling boyfriend. When Tessa finds a tattered journal carefully hidden inside the house’s ancient fireplace, the tragic story of how Ona was ripped from her mother’s arms to live and work in the palatial Mount Vernon, and the heart-shattering betrayal that led her to risk her life and run, has Tessa spellbound.
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My name is Ona Judge
- By Mz Shantay on 05-28-23
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The American Queen
- By: Vanessa Miller
- Narrated by: Angel Pean
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Transformative and breathtakingly honest, The American Queen is based on actual events that occurred between 1865 - 1889 and shares the unsung history of a Black woman who built a kingdom in Appalachia as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life. Over the twenty-four years she was enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one thing: hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose. Hate so powerful there's no room in her heart for love.
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The life of the Queen
- By R. Dameron on 03-26-24
By: Vanessa Miller
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The Last Dreamwalker
- By: Rita Woods
- Narrated by: Nedra Marie Taylor
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In the wake of her mother's passing, Layla Hurley unexpectedly reconnects with her mother's sisters, women she hasn't been allowed to speak to, or of, in years. Her aunts reveal to Layla that a Gullah-Geechee island off the shore of South Carolina now belongs to her. As Layla digs deeper into her mother’s past and the mysterious island’s history, she discovers that the terrifying nightmares that have plagued her throughout her life and tainted her relationship with her mother and all of her family, is actually a power passed down through generations of her Gullah ancestors.
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Fascinating story
- By Ms. Marisa G. Brown on 03-16-25
By: Rita Woods
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Glory Daze
- A Glory Broussard Mystery, Book 2
- By: Danielle Arceneaux
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
After her life was turned upside down by solving the murder of her best friend, Sister Amity Gay, all Glory Brousard wanted was a little peace and quiet. That included getting back to her Sunday morning routine as a bookie in a coffee shop, and planning the annual Mardi Gras gala for her church. But there’s no rest for Glory once the woman who broke up her marriage walks in to CC's Coffee House and asks for help finding her missing husband. It doesn’t take long before Glory finds him . . . with a knife impaled in his chest.
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Fun
- By Dyan D. on 07-06-25
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The Door to Tamba
- A Short Story
- By: Ishmael Beah
- Narrated by: Maduka Steady
- Length: 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Story
Award-winning author and human rights activist Ishmael Beah brings us The Door to Tamba, a powerful story centered on a mining village in West Africa where the destruction of earth and pollution of life impacts the mind, body, and soul of communities. Hindolo, a storyteller, returns to his hometown after 30 years and recalls the solitary and formidable old man who opened his home to him and introduced a world of literature and imagination, which for many years, was his only escape. Hindolo begins writing the stories down on paper stolen from a nearby mine to share with his classmates.
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Excellent
- By Tereza Jenkins on 02-04-24
By: Ishmael Beah
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Love on Replay
- Berotte Family, Book 1
- By: Monica Walters
- Narrated by: Winston James, J.Y. Kora
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Anissa Dent is experiencing heartbreak like none she’s ever felt. Her husband of nearly twenty years has fallen victim to crack cocaine after a devastating loss. All her efforts to help him have failed, and to protect herself and her sons, she divorces him and has him removed from their home. That doesn’t stop him from popping in and out of their lives with promises of getting clean. Anissa desperately wants to move on in her life, but her love for what once was is holding her back. However, attending a family barbeque with her son proves to be the restart she desperately needs.
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Great story mad it ended
- By shirley port on 04-25-25
By: Monica Walters
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People of Means
- A Novel
- By: Nancy Johnson
- Narrated by: Nancy Johnson, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In the fall of 1959, Freda Gilroy arrives on the campus of Fisk University full of hope, carrying a suitcase and the voice of her father telling her she’s part of a family legacy of greatness. Soon, the ugliness of the Jim Crow South intrudes, and she’s thrust into a movement for social change. Freda is reluctant to get involved, torn between a soon-to-be doctor her parents approve of and an audacious young man willing to risk it all in the name of justice.
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Beautifully Told
- By Dr. Judy A. Alston on 02-19-25
By: Nancy Johnson
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Glory Be
- A Glory Broussard Mystery, Book 1
- By: Danielle Arceneaux
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
It’s a hot and sticky Sunday in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Glory has settled into her usual after-church routine, meeting gamblers at the local coffee shop, where she works as a small-time bookie. Sitting at her corner table, Glory hears that her best friend—a nun beloved by the community—has been found dead in her apartment. When the police declare the mysterious death a suicide, Glory is convinced that there must be more to the story and, with her reluctant daughter in tow, launches a shadow investigation in a town of oil tycoons, church gossips, and a rumored voodoo priestess.
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loved it
- By Jasmin Harris on 12-26-23
I loved the narrator!
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*SPOILERS*
*SPOILERS*
Ok that should be enough distance for me to mention my spoilers. Who was Sam and why was there no story on him? I knew who the Mayor was from the start but I wish the author would’ve written more about him and why he did all that he did in the book. The devastating events with her parents were skimmed over. What happened to Sequoia? I wish there was more told in the last hour of the book to really wrap it up and it would have been perfect. That really is my only complaint.
An Amazing Debut
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Very satisfying
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4.5 stars
This was kind of intense
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Narration saved the story.
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Went From Slow Burn Into a Barn Burner!
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Plot twist?
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Captured, Engaged and wanting more
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What a story!
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Outstanding Historical Fiction
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