Readers of well-crafted historical fiction such as Trust by Hernan Diaz will be drawn in by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith's sure-footed Mutual Interest, which is set in turn-of-the century Manhattan, in the aftermath of the Gilded Age, with occasional excursions to Hollywood, Calif., and Utica, N.Y. Wolfgang-Smith (Glassworks) is nothing short of virtuosic in her wry and witty world-building, which immediately immerses readers into a rough-and-tumble capitalist quagmire where the stakes are incredibly high and safety nets are totally absent.
Vivian Lesperance realizes that if she's going to survive with her limited prospects, she must rely on her charm and manipulative abilities, primarily with the women she seduces, who provide her with economic support for a time. But when that time is clearly up, Vivian needs a new plan, which she finds in the form of awkward, sexually surreptitious, socially ascendent Midwestern transplant Oscar Schmidt.
Vivian assists Oscar in navigating the competitive waters of his business and muffles the potential reputational damage of both of their same-sex adventures by marrying him. Her skills are such that she manages to provide Oscar with professional and romantic riches via his business rival, Squire Clancy, another misfit, though one from a higher social class. Their three-way alliance yields enormous benefits for all, but threats to the home they've so carefully constructed for themselves loom--blackmail, social expectation, and justified labor unrest.
This is a novel of families won and lost, love, envy, and betrayal told in a remarkably fresh and entertaining way, with immersive period detail and compelling emotional stakes. Mutual Interest is essential reading for lovers of historical and accessible literary fiction. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.