The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers by Bridgett Davis (reviewed by Jane Hilburt Davis)

Bridgett Davis, novelist, screenwriter, and creative writing professor, tells the story of her remarkable mother in The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers. It’s both a memoir and a social history of the significance of the underground numbers game in the African American community and Detroit’s slide into decay. Through archival research and interviews with family and friends, the author details her life of comfort and advantages and her incredible mother who kept the family and the business together throughout turmoil and changes. She even found a way to succeed after Michigan established the state lottery in 1972 that the author refers to as “usurping.”

Fannie ran the business for 34 years and Bridgett discloses “the fact that mama gave us an unapologetically good life by taking others’ bets on three-digit number is the secret I’ve carried with me.” Now she tells her story and this reader is glad she did!

—Jane Hilburt Davis