The jewel of the blues A novel

The Love family--Hank, Evelyn, and their daughter, Lucille--are forced to flee their hometown of Evansville, Indiana, after innocent bystander Hank is caught up in a botched robbery. Thanks to Evelyn and Lucille's talents, the family makes ends meet on the vaudeville circuit, where Lucille becomes known as "the little girl with the big voice." It's a hardscrabble life, but Lucille's talent attracts attention, and she strikes out on her own with the aid of a manager, Marcus, who helps her assemble a touring band, the Black Troubadours. Despite her hard work, the success that Lucille craves eludes her. When a figure from Hank's past returns, Lucille and the Troubadours find themselves in grave danger. Chenault-Kilgore (Long Gone, Come Home, 2023) traces Lucille's trajectory from child star to ambitious young musician in this immersive Jazz Age tale. Both the glamour and the dark side of a musician's life are well-covered, as is the pervasive racism of 1920s America, which relegates Lucille to second-class billing, inadequate accommodations, and the constant threat of violence. Fans of Diane Richards and Phyllis R. Dixon will be hooked.

This second novel from Chenault-Kilgore (following Long Gone, Come Home) follows Lucille Love, a Black singer who's trying to become famous during the Jazz Age. Lucille has been performing all of her life, first doing gospel hymns with her parents as a child, then performing swing and jazz music with a group called the Troubadours when she gets older. Lucille dreams of becoming a major star, and the band's manager is equally determined to make that happen. For several years, the group works steadily and is successful, until love affairs, gambling, and drinking get in the way. Lucille starts to meet some dangerous characters and finds out that her beloved father may have been involved in a terrible crime and that people are hunting her to get revenge. Chenault-Kilgore evokes the segregated, dangerous environment Lucille and her bandmates all live in, with talk of "sundown towns" and racist police officers. Delphina, a white woman in their entourage, has a romance with a Black musician even though they realize the disastrous consequences that could result. VERDICT This book is a good fit for readers who like descriptive fiction with uncomplicated plots.--Susan Cox