Every February, my city of St. Petersburg hosts a Grand Prix race in the middle of downtown. Streets are closed, traffic diverted, tourists swarm. For the entire weekend, the noise from the cars dominates the outdoors, and even in the house it sounds like a giant swarm of bees about to attack. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of racing.
But I am a fan of trailblazing women, so Kate Clark Stone’s debut novel about a woman trying to make the Indy 500 sounded appealing. And it is. Even if your idea of racing is passing Grandma in the righthand lane on I-95, The Last Sunday in May has much more to offer than just fast cars.
Ten years ago, MacKenzie “Mack” Williams, daughter of racing legend Wes Williams, had a ticket to qualify for the Indy 500. But instead, the 20-year-old passed another kind of test—a pregnancy test. Soon after Mack gave birth to her daughter Shaw, her father suffered a traumatic brain injury in a racing accident. Ever since, her life has been about raising Shaw, taking care of her recovering father, and running their small racetrack in rural Indiana. Then one night, racing legend Janet Joyner shows up on Mack’s doorstep. She wants Mack to join her team and race for her at the Indy 500. All she needs to do is line up a million dollars in sponsorships and race fast enough to qualify—even though Mack hasn’t raced in 10 years. Piece of cake, right?
It’s a dream come true… but who is going to watch Shaw? Run the racetrack? Take care of Dad? Surprisingly, her father’s girlfriend Billie steps up—even though Mack had her pegged as flighty and flirty. And Mack’s distant older half-sister Laurie, who lives in Indianapolis but left Mack in the lurch when she had a colicky infant and a sick father, offers a place to stay and a cheering squad. Even star driver Leo Raisman believes Mack can make the cut, despite their attraction that could complicate everything. In fact, it seems the only person who doesn’t believe in Mack is Mack herself.
Stone’s love for and knowledge of racing is evident on every page. The reader is immersed in the sights, sounds, and smell of the track, and even in the driver’s seat with Mack. She filters everything through Mack’s point-of-view, so the narrative never feels like a lecture.
The Last Sunday in May is about much more than a race. Mack might be only thirty, but she asks herself a question that people of all ages routinely ask: Am I too old to chase my dreams? And for women, especially: Is it fair to chase my dreams when people at home are depending on me? Mack not only has to re-learn how to drive a race car. She also needs to learn to trust other people: the engineers building her car. Billie, who’s changing her father’s lifestyle. Leo and her other teammates, who root for her even though she could take one of their spots. It’s a hard ask for a woman who’s used to doing everything on her own. Sometimes Stone gets a little heavy handed with the subtext, as Mack is in her head a lot.
I had a few quibbles with the plot. I wished Mack had done something on the page to earn Janet’s attention; instead, the woman swoops in like a fairy godmother. Leo seemed too good to be true to me, and I didn’t need a romance on top of everything else. And Shaw’s father, a bad boy motorcycle racer, was a one-note villain.
However, this book delivers because it’s so optimistic. It tells readers to go after their dreams. It tells them to trust that the people in their life will be there to help them out. It says to go ahead and make mistakes, because the universe offers second chances.
Stone ends the book before the story is over, which preserves its fairy-tale feeling. I would have appreciated an epilogue, but perhaps she’s planning a sequel.
I’m still not a racing fan, but I’m definitely a fan of Kate Clark Stone. I look forward to her next project.
Thanks to Kaye Publicity for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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