About this ebook
1989.
The African Jazz Pioneers are in full swing. Coltrane's club is hopping. Glasses and plates are pushed aside as the room dances.
What's so special?
Look around. The faces are black, brown and white. It's Durban, South Africa. It's apartheid. It's illegal.
When a pair of young music lovers decide to follow their dreams and open a jazz club to showcase the musicians whose irrepressible songs they have grown up with, they have little idea of what stark choices they will be facing as the political situation heats up and riots tear through the surrounding townships.
With an epic tale that starts in the depths of a Ukrainian shtetl and winds its way back and forth across oceans, history and memory serve to create a personal story of individual choice – and the fate of nations.
"A time-jumping… story of oppression and resilience" – Kirkus Reviews
Meriel’s kaleidoscopic composition shakes together the frozen darkness of Eastern Europe, the blinding glare of Durban, the dread of pogroms and township faction fights, the exultation of jazz and the trials and triumphs of a few hard living and brave young South African whites who made a go of an impossible business – Darius Brubeck, co-author “Playing the Changes; Jazz at an African University and On the Road”
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About the author
Leonora Meriel grew up in London, UK, but draws much of her inspiration from her years living in Ukraine, where she was co-founder of Ukraine’s largest bookshop. Her debut novel, The Woman Behind the Waterfall, is set in western Ukraine and is a celebration of Ukrainian culture, language and custom. Her novel And Breathe centers on a Ukrainian oligarch and her latest novel Mbaqanga Nights explores Ukrainian immigration at the turn of the nineteenth century. Her work has been hailed as “strange and beautiful” by writer Esther Freud, “ambitious and thought-provoking” by Kirkus Reviews, and “a literary work of art” by Richmond Magazine. Read more about Leonora and her work at www.leonorameriel.com
