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Set in the sparkling 1920s jazz era, The Jewel of the Blues pulls back the curtain on all the romance, danger, and drama in the bustling backstage life of a young performer.
Lucille Arnetta Love has always lived on the run. In her family's traveling band, Lucille was billed as “The Little Girl with the Big Voice”, belting out gospel hymns and never staying in once place too long-all to keep attention off the real reason the Loves had to flee across America. Unaware of the danger, Lucille dreamed of breaking out of the backwoods and being big enough for Broadway. Nearly eleven years after setting out on the road with her parents, Lucille is finally discovered by Marcus Williams, a young talent manager who whisks her away to chase her dreams.
The big cities aren't kind to Lucille; no matter how big her voice is, there's always another act to be compared to. So, Marcus rebrands The Little Girl with the Big Voice and sets Lucille up with a band. Once Miss Lucille's Black Troubadours are formed, no one can hold a candle to them. Together with Big Bobby, Lincoln, and Sweet Mitchell, Miss Lucille and her band become rising stars, moving up the bill and delivering knockout performances at every club and theatre on the circuit.
But as opportunities grow stagnant and the band turns restless, personal demons haunt the Troubadours. Between drinking, gambling, and love affairs, Lucille's family secret is revealed, and it's a shock even to her: a decades-old robbery that ended in a suspicious death-and all signs seem to point to her own father as the culprit. Now the thieves from years' past have caught up with Lucille and are back for revenge...and to collect the money that was never recovered with the body.
Lucille Arnetta Love has always lived on the run. In her family's traveling band, Lucille was billed as “The Little Girl with the Big Voice”, belting out gospel hymns and never staying in once place too long-all to keep attention off the real reason the Loves had to flee across America. Unaware of the danger, Lucille dreamed of breaking out of the backwoods and being big enough for Broadway. Nearly eleven years after setting out on the road with her parents, Lucille is finally discovered by Marcus Williams, a young talent manager who whisks her away to chase her dreams.
The big cities aren't kind to Lucille; no matter how big her voice is, there's always another act to be compared to. So, Marcus rebrands The Little Girl with the Big Voice and sets Lucille up with a band. Once Miss Lucille's Black Troubadours are formed, no one can hold a candle to them. Together with Big Bobby, Lincoln, and Sweet Mitchell, Miss Lucille and her band become rising stars, moving up the bill and delivering knockout performances at every club and theatre on the circuit.
But as opportunities grow stagnant and the band turns restless, personal demons haunt the Troubadours. Between drinking, gambling, and love affairs, Lucille's family secret is revealed, and it's a shock even to her: a decades-old robbery that ended in a suspicious death-and all signs seem to point to her own father as the culprit. Now the thieves from years' past have caught up with Lucille and are back for revenge...and to collect the money that was never recovered with the body.
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Reviews
Bahni Turpin gives a winning performance of this historical novel set in the world of Black vaudeville in the early twentieth century. After Lucille's father gets involved in the aftermath of a bank robbery, Lucille and her parents leave town and start singing in churches as the "Traveling Loves." Lucille, "the little girl with the big voice," is taken under the tutelage of Marcus, an aspiring tal
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