Sappho Clarkbeautiful, mysterious, Southernarrives in Boston to earn her living as a stenographer. She lodges with the Smith family and immediately becomes a source of fascination to the them: Ma Smith is impressed by Sapphos financial independence; Dora Smith admires Sapphos quiet self-possession; and Will Smith, Doras brother, falls madly in love with Sappho. But as Sappho enters the Smiths community, it becomes clear that her beauty is a lure to bad actors, including someone who entertains dark suspicions about her past. . .

A murder mystery, the story of a friendship, and a romance set in Bostons thriving, politically active middle-class Black community, Contending Forces is an unjustly forgotten American classic.