Wild Women and the Blues
From the very first few pages the riveting tale of Wild Women and the Blues captured my attention and held onto it! This book had everything I look for in historical fiction: mystery, adventure, culture, and excellent research.
“Why would I talk to you about my life? I don't know you, and even if I did, I don't tell my story to just any boy with long hair, who probably smokes weed.You wanna hear about me. You gotta tell me something about you. To make this worth my while.”
1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Café is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper’s daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose.
2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he’s right—if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he’s expecting . . .
Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It’s a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions. And as past meets present, for Honoree, it’s a final chance to be truly heard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost.
Wild Women and the Blues immediately grabbed me and transported me to the roaring 1920s Chicago. The times, they are a-changin'. Women are becoming bolder, clothes are becoming scantier, jazz is being born, and Capone is running the city. It is a city on the verge of cultural change.
I was beyond impressed with the author’s ability to weave together two fabulous tales (1925 and 2015) into one sensational story. The plot moves with speed, and brilliantly incorporates all things that were the 1920s Chicago. The story had a cinematic quality, and I loved being right in the middle of the nightclub scene: there was jazz, drama, murder, gangsters, love, grit, loss, and I was enthralled from the get-go.
This book had a full cast of characters that brought energy and glamour to the story. I enjoyed the complexity of these characters, they were flawed and at times extremely unlikable, but I found them relatable, as we all have ugly imperfect moments. People are rarely all good or all evil, there are shades of grey and Bryce did an excellent job of illustrating that.
Overall, historical fiction fans will thoroughly enjoy Wild Women and the Blues. It was a fantastic read, and anyone who enjoys a highly atmospheric setting with a good helping of gangsters and mystery will love this one. This period in history is tragic, but it’s also compelling. Denny Bryce’s debut book is not to be missed!
