Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin review – privilege and race intersect in a fine debut

A young gay Black man escapes from grief into the hedonism of upper-echelon New York, in a lyrical tale of redemption

Lives can turn on one mistake. Smith’s comes when he is caught in the corner of a restaurant in the Hamptons on the last night of summer, snorting cocaine from a key. He walks calmly out with the two khaki-clad police officers, poses for a& mugshot and posts his $500 bail.

Smith is Black, which won’t help, but he comes from wealth, which will. So he calls his sister, who calls his father in Atlanta, who tells his mother, who collapses on the floor in shock then starts calling lawyers. Smith prepares for his court date with a series of AA meetings and counselling sessions that will make it clear that this promising young man is on the road to redemption.