


“It felt like they were hurtling toward inevitability, and as guests arrived, the mood in their living room became electric. Their guests are a cross-section of Chicago’s Black community, from an elderly postal worker to a lesbian couple Ruth met through a local Yale alumni group.Īs the results roll in, the attendees are giddy with joy. Ruth, a 29-year-old Yale engineering grad working for a consumer packaged-goods company, and Xavier, 32, a PepsiCo marketing vice president, are hosting a watch party at their new townhome in the gentrified Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. “ The Kindest Lie,” Nancy Johnson’s debut novel, opens on election night, 2008. Measured by any yardstick, Ruth Tuttle and her husband, Xavier Shaw, are living the dream of Black uplift. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.
