-The rise of the Chicago Blues scene fairly shimmers with verve and intensity, and the large, diverse cast of characters is indelibly portrayed with the perfect pitch of a true artist.—Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue

The bestselling author of White Collar Girl and What the Lady Wants explores one woman’s journey of self-discovery and love set against the backdrop of a musical and social revolution.

Leeba Groski doesn’t exactly fit in, but her love of music is not lost on her childhood friend and neighbor, Leonard Chess, who offers her a job at his new record company in the heart of Chicago. What starts as answering phones and filing becomes more than Leeba ever dreamed of, as she comes into her own as a songwriter and her path crosses with legendary performers like Muddy Waters and Etta James. But it’s Red Dupree, a black blues guitarist from Louisiana, who captures her heart, and urges her to explore her talent and who she really is.

With their relationship unwelcome in segregated 1950s Chicago and the two of them shunned by Leeba’s Orthodox Jewish family, Leeba and Red soon find themselves in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement and they discover that, in times of struggle, music can bring people together.
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