In 1925, chorus girl Honoree Dalcour is ready to move on up from dancing at the neighborhood speakeasy to performing at the Dreamland Cafe, the hottest black-and-tan club on Chicago's Stroll, where she has the opportunity to meet some of the most influential Black voices of the era, including Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Ninety years later, film student Sawyer Hayes is finishing his thesis on Micheaux when he ends up at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree, hoping that she can tell him a bit more about her experiences. But what she slowly reveals over the course of many interviews is not at all what Sawyer was expecting.
It's hard to believe that this well-researched, tightly-woven tale of gangsters, chorus girls, gambling, and ambition is a debut novel. While I have a few quibbles (the historical part is MUCH more compelling than the modern stuff), overall it's fantastic. I can't wait to see what Bruce brings us in the future.
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