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Wild women and the blues / by Bryce, Denny S.,author.;
"1925: Chicago is the jazz capital of the world, and the Dreamland Cafe is the ritziest black-and-tan club in town. Honoree Dalcour is a sharecropper's daughter, willing to work hard and dance every night on her way to the top. Dreamland offers a path to the good life, socializing with celebrities like Louis Armstrong and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. But Chicago is also awash in bootleg whiskey, gambling, and gangsters. And a young woman driven by ambition might risk more than she can stand to lose. 2015: Film student Sawyer Hayes arrives at the bedside of 110-year-old Honoree Dalcour, still reeling from a devastating loss that has taken him right to the brink. Sawyer has rested all his hope on this frail but formidable woman, the only living link to the legendary Oscar Micheaux. If he's right-if she can fill in the blanks in his research, perhaps he can complete his thesis and begin a new chapter in his life. But the links Honoree makes are not ones he's expecting ... Piece by piece, Honoree reveals her past and her secrets, while Sawyer fights tooth and nail to keep his. It's a story of courage and ambition, hot jazz and illicit passions"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; African Americans; Nightclubs; Nineteen twenties; Women dancers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Can't we be friends : a novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe / by Bryce, Denny S.,author.; Knight, Eliza,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."One woman was recognized as the premiere singer of her era with perfect pitch and tireless ambition. One woman was the most glamorous star in Hollywood, a sex symbol who took the world by storm. And their friendship was fast and firm ... 1952: Ella Fitzgerald is a renowned jazz singer whose only roadblock to longevity is society's attitude toward women and race. Marilyn Monroe's star is rising despite ongoing battles with movie studio bigwigs and boyfriends. When she needs help with her singing, she wants only the best--and the best is the brilliant Ella Fitzgerald. But Ella isn't a singing teacher and declines--then the two women meet, and to everyone's surprise but their own, they become fast friends. On the surface, what could they have in common? Yet each was underestimated by the men in their lives--husbands, managers, hangers-on. And both were determined to gain. Each fought for professional independence and personal agency in a time when women were expected to surrender control to those same men. This novel reveals and celebrates their surprising bond over a decade and serves as a poignant reminder of how true friendship can cross differences to bolster and sustain us through haunting heartbreak and wild success"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; Novels.; Fitzgerald, Ella; Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962; Female friendship; Motion picture actors and actresses; Women jazz singers;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The other princess : a novel of Queen Victoria's goddaughter / by Bryce, Denny S.,author.;
"A stunning portrait of an African princess raised in Queen Victoria's court and adapting to life in Victorian England--based on the real-life story of a recently rediscovered historical figure, Sarah Forbes Bonetta. With a brilliant mind and a fierce will to survive, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a kidnapped African princess, is rescued from enslavement at seven years old and presented to Queen Victoria as a "gift." To the Queen, the girl is an exotic trophy to be trotted out for the entertainment of the royal court and to showcase Victoria's magnanimity. Sarah charms most of the people she meets, even those who would cast her aside. Her keen intelligence and her aptitude for languages and musical composition helps Sarah navigate the Victorian era as an outsider given insider privileges. But embedded in Sarah's past is her destiny. Haunted by visions of destruction and decapitations, she desperately seeks a place, a home she will never run from, never fear, a refuge from nightmares and memories of death. From West Africa to Windsor Castle to Sierra Leone, to St. James's Palace, and the Lagos Colony, Sarah juggles the power and pitfalls of a royal upbringing as she battles racism and systematic oppression on her way to living a life worthy of a Yoruba princess. Based on the real life of Queen Victoria's Black goddaughter, Sarah Forbes Bonetta's story is a sweeping saga of an African princess in Victorian England and West Africa, as she searches for a home, family, love, and identity"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Biographical fiction.; Novels.; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901; Bonetta, Sarah Forbes, 1843?-1880;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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