Sketches of Gotham

"Sketches of Gotham" by Ike Swift is a series of captivating tales set in early 1900s New York City, a place nicknamed Gotham, that looks at the lives of peculiar people living there. The stories highlight things like the energy of the city streets to the tangled web of relationships, and also the way society was changing. Readers are immediately drawn into a world where women, called "Badger Molls," use their smarts and appeal to get rich, targeting men with deep pockets, one daring woman being especially good at getting close to important men. The book paints a clear image of a lively, but risky, city at night, and touches on how love and trickery mix together as people become players in intense games involving money and wanting things.