Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1958) by Chicago African American novelist Willard Motley returns to the scene and to some of the same characters of the author's best-selling novel Knock on Any Door (1947). Motley picks up the lives of two minor characters from the earlier novel, Nellie Watkins, a girl friend of Nick Romano, and Louie Romano, Nick's brother, who was a small child when Nick was executed. He further reveals that Nellie became pregnant by Nick and now has a child, whom she has names Nick Romano, Jr.
Nellie reveres Nick as the one great love of her life and does her best to raise Nick, Jr. as a living monument to his father even though she lives in a slum and ekes out a living as a waitress. In spite of …
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