Wild Women and the Blues: A Fascinating and Innovative Novel of Historical Fiction

By Denny S. Bryce

Book Overview

"Perfect for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo...a dazzling depiction of passion, prohibition, and murder." --Shelf Awareness

"Ambitious and stunning." --Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author

"Vibrant...A highly entertaining read " --Ellen Marie Wiseman New York Times Bestselling author of THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR

"The music practically pours out of the pages of Denny S. Bryce's historical novel, set among the artists and dreamers of the 1920s." --OprahMag.com

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In a stirring and impeccably researched novel of Jazz-age Chicago in all its vibrant life, two stories intertwine nearly a hundred years apart, as a chorus girl and a film student deal with loss, forgiveness, and love...in all its joy, sadness, and imperfections.

"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 Caf 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...

"Immersive, mysterious and evocative; factual in its history and nuanced in its creativity." --Ms. Magazine


"Perfect...Denny S. Bryce is a superstar " --Julia Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of the Bridgerton series

"Evocative and entertaining " --Laura Kamoie, New York Times bestselling author

"Wild Women and the Blues deftly delivers what historical fiction has been missing." --Farrah Rochon USA Today bestselling author

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1496730089
• ISBN13: 9781496730084
• Release Date: March 2021
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Very well written

I flew through this book and absolutely loved the 1920's jazz era in Chicago. This is my favorite book of the year.

Eccentric & Excellent

Wild Women and the Blues explores the life of Honoree Dalcour, a dancer at various jazz clubs and cafés in the 1920s, and the life of Sawyer Hayes, an aspiring documentary film-maker in 2015. When Sawyer interviews a 105 year-old Honoree for his documentary, she is reluctant to participate- after all, she's not even sure she can recall much of what's happened in her life. Throughout their time together, however, Sawyer and Honoree discover new things about their own lives, and the lives of each other, through brilliant story-telling. I must say, this book didn't go where I thought it was going to go. It ended up with a very mysterious aspect of the story, (especially for a book marketed as historical fiction) but I was here for it, and enjoyed it more because of this. It was also darker than I expected, exploring prohibition in Chicago, gangs, violence, and even rape. However, integrating concepts into the book ended up making for a much more evocative story, giving the reader more to contemplate. Most of the characters were well-developed, multi-faceted people. However, I wasn't a huge fan of Sawyer's character, he seemed very one-sided, like he didn't have a whole lot to contribute. Much of his character was built around grief, (while I understand this is important as part of the story, it didn't have to be so grief-central, I feel like I didn't know almost anything about Sawyer other than that he was sad about the death of his sister). I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I will admit that it took me about 150 pages to get into it. Until then, it seemed a bit slow, it was hard to continue reading in the beginning. After this, though, it was a fun, thoughtful, and well-constructed story. I was enjoying it until the very last few pages, which felt sort of anti-climatic. I just felt like the additional epilogue wasn't necessary, it didn't contribute anything. Overall, I would recommend this book if you want a great historical fiction read, and give it about 100 pages to get into it. The writing was beautiful, the characters were well-constructed, this book was a pleasure to read.