- Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, Thomas Allen Publishers, 309 pages, $24.95
As the dark days of World War II loom a group of jazz players try to keep the flame of their music alive. Their shared love of the blues holds them in Berlin long after they knew they should have left.
The story of the musicians revolves around three black performers. Two of them, Sid and Chip, are American and have known each other most of their lives, and the Kid is the newest member of the band but also the one with the most talent.
Against the backdrop of Nazi racism and the growing fanaticism across Europe, the musicians struggle to decide on their next move. Author Esi Edugyan draws us into the story with a brilliant cadence to her writing. Like a drummer counting down the beat for the band, Edugyan creates a rhythm in her dialogue that sings.
Many years later, Sid and Chip return to Berlin as old men participating in a music festival to honour the Kid, Hieronymus Falk. Old wounds are reopened and a history long buried is pulled apart. Edugyan weaves in and out of their lives as the ghosts of the past shapes their futures.
She beautifully writes of lost love and tragedy with the same grace that she describes the passion for music that burns deep in her characters.
