Twelve Bar Blues

Winner of the prestigious Whitbread Novel Award, Twelve Bar Blues is an epic tale of fate and family, jazz and juju that spans three continents and two centuries to tell a story of enduring roots and indelible love. At its heart is Lick Holden, a talented but tormented young musician who sets the jazz scene of early-twentieth-century New Orleans on fire with the hot tones of his coronet. But Licks true passion is for his beautiful lost stepsister, for whom he searches among the streets, music halls, and bordellos of the South. Their story reverberates through the decades into the life of Sylvia Di Napoli, a black English former prostitute turned singer who travels from London to America in 1999 to find the answer to the mystery of her family's roots.Funny and poignant, Twelve Bar Blues is a dynamic novel with all the emotional energy and breakneck tempo of a red-hot Big Easy jazz band that will hook you -- like a favorite tune -- until the very last page.