An Ordinary Hero in Saint Mazie

Mazie Phillips Gordon was not rich or lived a perfect life, but that didn’t stop her from helping the homeless men in the Lower East Side during the Depression. She was profiled in an article in the New Yorker by Joseph Mitchell that inspired bestselling author Jami Attenberg to write a novel based on Mazie.

This novel speaks through Mazie by using diary entries that tell her secrets from her family and loves to her fears and losses and uses interviews to create a picture of Mazie as a tough “broad” with a kind heart. Full of wonderful one liners Saint Mazie is endearing as Attenberg tells a story of someone in ordinary circumstances that does the extraordinary. Attenberg is also the author of four other books including The Middlesteins.