Description
"An ensemble-cast novel about the perennial temptations of dangerous love, following a jazz musician and the multiple women-some charmed by him, others scorned-who find the power of their own voices in this thrilling debut It's 2013, and Circus Palmer, a forty-year-old Boston-based trumpet player and old-school ladies man, lives for his music, and refuses to be tied down. Before a gig in Miami, he learns that the woman who is secretly closest to his heart, the free-spirited drummer Maggie, is pregnant by him. He flees instead of facing the necessary conversation, setting off a chain of interlocking revelations from the various women in his life. Most notable among them is his teenage daughter Koko, who idolizes him; she's awakening to her own sexuality even as her mentally fragile mother struggles to overcome her long failed marriage and rejection by Circus. Delivering a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Warrell spins a provocative, soulful and gripping story of passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, and finally hope and reconciliation, in answer to the age-old question: how do we find belonging when love is unrequited?"--
Martine Schmidt @mueller.harmon_679
January 21, 2023
4
This is a book unlike any other. A compelling, engrossing exploration of what it means to be alive. I loved every moment of this narrative. The characters are so complex and real that it feels as if you know them. The prose is delicious, the insights into our collective humanity empathetically clear and generous. It's a beautiful book.