Saint Mazie Author:Jami Attenberg Meet Mazie Phillips: big-hearted and bawdy, she s the truth-telling proprietress of The Venice, the famed New York City movie theater. It s the Jazz Age, with romance and booze aplenty even when Prohibition kicks in and Mazie never turns down a night on the town. But her high spirits mask a childhood rooted in poverty, and her diary, always clos... more »e at hand, holds her dearest secrets.When the Great Depression hits, Mazie s life is on the brink of transformation. Addicts and bums roam the Bowery; homelessness is rampant. If Mazie won t help them, then who? When she opens the doors of The Venice to those in need, this ticket-taking, fun-time girl becomes the beating heart of the Lower East Side, and in defining one neighborhood helps define the city.Then, more than ninety years after Mazie began her diary, it s discovered by a documentarian in search of a good story. Who was Mazie Phillips, really? A chorus of voices from the past and present fill in some of the mysterious blanks of her adventurous life.Inspired by the life of a woman who was profiled in Joseph Mitchell s classic "Up in the Old Hotel," "Saint Mazie" is infused with Jami Attenberg s signature wit, bravery, and heart. Mazie s rise to sainthood and her irrepressible spirit is unforgettable."« less