Sometimes a book can completely upend your expectations, sometimes it can give you nothing like what you expected it to be, even if part of the story may have familiar elements. That unexpectedness is what initially struck me about Tannarive Due’s Mazywood. Don’t get me wrong, I knew to expect an incisive, tense, and engaging breakdown of Black Hollywood and the seediness underneath the surface. Even though the description hints at something lurking in the woods, it was nothing like what I expected. To call this novel a “creature feature that exposes deep racism in Hollywood” is a understatement but that’s as good a tagline as any. In Due’s deft, intelligent, empathetic, and engaging hands, it is a masterpiece.
Told across two timelines (lifetimes?), Due gives readers Mazelle Washington, a young black actress whose career was at its heights from the 1920s to the 1940s. Like many black actors of the era, she was only able to get comedic roles, including the recurring character/series Lazy Mazy. Her parents were in show-business so Mazelle lived under the pressure to continue the legacy and as her fame grew through her performances with her dog Scout, Mazelle was the main breadwinner for the family.
In the current timeline, Johnny is a horror filmmaker, best known for a series of slasher movies. He’s struggling to break out of that box and direct his own film. Unfortunately, studios only see him as the guy in charge of that slasher series. After a frustrating meeting with movie executives, he decides to take his wife Tasha and two daughters (Sharise and Imani) to Mazywood (or Bear Creek Lodge), the mountain retreat his grandmother Mazelle built as a refuge for Black actors and creatives. But Johnny spoke very little of his Grandmother or the lodge, his memories aren’t exactly fond. Despite this, his wife Tasha has long wanted to shed light on the truth of Mazelle’s life and career.
Dual narratives are a storytelling technique I enjoy a great deal, so in the hands of a master craftsperson like Due, I was delighted. However, Mazelle’s story was less than delightful. Through the years from her time as a child star with Scout the dog to her waning years and creation of Mazywood, Due reveals a powerful and heartbreaking journey. While Mazelle had what could be considered a decent life from an outsider’s perspective, the heartbreaking truth of how much she was held back by people in power – mostly men – shows how much grander she could have been. Even a legendary actress like Lena Horne looked up to Mazelle. Sammy Davis, Jr. saw Mazelle and her lodge as a safe haven. By showing two legends who admired Mazelle, Due powerfully builds up Mazelle.
With Johnny and his family, we see a complex family dynamic with love at its core. Sure, the sisters bicker, but there’s a sense of love between them. When they arrive at snowy Bear Creek Lodge there’s tension. The girls think their parents are going to tell them they are getting divorced, the filled gas cans for the generator are forgotten at the gas station. When the family leaves – or attempts to leave – and are attacked by something in the woods and separated, that fear of loss heightens their emotions across the board. Especially the love they feel for each other. The adrenalized storytelling takes hold in that inciting scene and all those snowed in scenes until the conclusion.
Mazywood is one of those novels where I feel any summary or review I provide will not do the book the justice it deserves. Due manages to take what could be the shlocky elements of a creature feature/monster movie and imbue it with some great depth and enormous pathos.
I appreciated the historical journey Due took us one as Mazelle’s life unfolded. One of the writerly tricks I enjoy in dual narratives is when we get to see one (or multiple scenes) from each of the parallel narratives…it can reveal a truth neither party is able to see lending the scene or interaction a heartbreaking illumination.
The Reformatory was a defining work by Tananarive Due… it received many, many awards. A lesser writer may have rested on their laurels, not Due. She plumbed some depths of deep, horrific racism and misogyny in Mazywood and added a fascinating “monster.” No… Tananarive Due most definitely kept that bar very high with her latest novel.
Highest Recommendation
© 2026 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | 504 Pages
September 2026 | Saga Press
Excerpt: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Mazywood/Tananarive-Due/9781668075142
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
