Wild Women and the Blues, Denny S. Bryce
Wild Women and the Blues, Denny S. Bryce
15 Rating(s)
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Wild Women and the Blues

Author: Denny S. Bryce

Narrator: Tracey Conyer Lee, Ronald Peet

Unabridged: 12 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/30/2021


Synopsis

“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 trulyheard and seen before it’s too late. No matter the cost …

“Evocative and entertaining!”—Laura Kamoie, New York Times bestselling author

About Denny S. Bryce

Denny S. Bryce is an award-winning and bestselling author of historical fiction, including Wild Women and the Blues. She is also an adjunct professor in the MFA program at Drexel University, a book critic for NPR, and a member of the Historical Novel Society, Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and Tall Poppy Writers. Currently, she resides in Savannah, Georgia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on December 14, 2023

Chicago. 1920's. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper's daughter who dreams of becoming the best dancer in the world. With no support, she is about to make all of her dreams come true. As luck would have it, Honoree finds herself in the midst of a criminal enterprise. What will happen to Honoree? Will......more

Goodreads review by cossette on April 24, 2025

Trigger warnings: Car crash, abuse, death of a parent, death of a sibling, emetophobia ( ch 13), cancer mention (brief; ch 15), brief mention of suicide attempt (ch 15), assault (ch 33), rape (ch 43) hi, this "review" seems to be getting a lot of traction and i just want to let y'all know that trigge......more

Goodreads review by Annette on November 23, 2020

In 1920s, the Stroll, section of State St in Chicago, is the place for Black Chicagoans to socialize, filled with jazz clubs, brimming with life and blazing with lights. Jazz-age Chicago comes alive in this story. Chicago, 2015. Sawyer “is a graduate student chasing a doctorate in media studies.” His......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on May 05, 2021

I was so excited to read this book and expected to love every second of it. I thought this was going to be about chorus girls leading wild lives, but that's not really what we got. First, I had a hard time caring about Sawyer's storyline. I felt like his character was underdeveloped and we only had......more

Goodreads review by WhiskeyintheJar on March 28, 2021

3.5 stars I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Wild Women and the Blues is a historical fiction story that starts us in 2015 from the first person point-of-view of Sawyer Hayes as he tries to finish hi......more