Five Points Forgotten

Date

2018-06-14

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa

Abstract

Five Points Forgotten is a 90,000 word historical mystery that begins during the Civil War and concludes in 1910. During that time, the Manhattan locale of Five Points was synonymous with poverty and crime. Yet despite their struggles, people in Five Points formed lasting friendships, and even a sense of family. Five Points Forgotten follows Noble Jennings from an orphan child into his sixties when he became the first American diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. William Henley and Noble have been best friends since they were in an orphanage together. As adults, Noble is charged with murder. William, a successful attorney, defends his friend using the original defense of early on-set dementia. Five Points Forgotten is a tapestry told within the framework of Noble’s trial. The novel weaves together an ensemble of real and fictional characters that include Dr. Alois Alzheimer; Dr. Levi Solomon Fuller, the first black American psychiatrist; Sarah, a mulatto woman who must care for her brain damaged mother; Tammany Hall racists; Jenny Big Stink, a drug dealing fish peddler; and Lonny Massacre, a serial killer. Told in five sections (Five Points), and dramatized through conventional literary devices such as third person close and omniscient narratives, and through newspaper articles, a manifesto, and other non-traditional story telling tools, Five Points Forgotten culminates in Noble’s trial when William fights for his best friend’s life, and metaphorically for his own. The novel’s principle themes include forgetting from where we’ve come and, as an extension, remembrance. Also, finding family in unexpected places.

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Keywords

Historical fiction, Alzheimer's disease, Mystery, New York City, 19th century

Citation

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