Set in the sleazy underbelly of America’s most international city, where a host of global cultures fused into gumbo, this entry in the sprightly series captures the spirit of the city and its great love for music. The parade of interesting and colorful characters includes glimpses of epochal musical figures, founding fathers of what will come to be known as jazz. Also entertaining, as always, is the protagonist herself, whose silence hides not just oodles of talent but reservoirs of grit as well. Then there is the gun-toting, cigarette-smoking “countess,” Estelle, who wants to be child free; Liddie who yearns to be a mother; Dago Annie, the angel of death; and the Karnofsky family with their ‘adopted’ child, Louis Armstrong, boasting a “mile wide smile.”
The pace is brisk and narrative taut. The portrayal of the city and the times is realistic but good humored, imbuing Elly’s adventures with feelings of Twain-like amusement, and bemusement. Readers who relish fun, adventure, history, and a driven protagonist will be eager for more.
Takeaway: A young woman’s vivid, charming adventures in 1913 New Orleans.
Comparable Titles: Ruta Sepetys’s Out of the Easy, Diane C. McPhail’s The Seamstress of New Orleans.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A