Book Review: Sugarland

By Martha Conway

I really enjoyed this book,  part mystery, part historical in the spirit of the times, the Roaring Twenties. The Chicago Jazz circuit was quite interesting to me, I participated in Blues in the Schools, in Ottawa, and we learned a lot about the roots of blues music. This author has examined many first-hand accounts, as you can tell from her writing.

It was the Prohibition Era, and bootleggers abound. There are many issues, women working, especially in the era when whites and blacks were becoming more integrated. It's a rich novel, humorous, and sensitive, with many rich images and metaphors. You have to adore the slang of the times: Speakeasy, hootch, the bee's knees!

 Primarily, it speaks of the power of music to transcend the pain of our souls in the pursuit of its joy.

About the Author

Martha Conway’s first novel was nominated for an Edgar Award, and her second novel, Thieving Forest, won the 2014 North American Book Award for Best Historical Fiction. Her short fiction has been published in The Iowa Review, The Carolina Quarterly Review, The Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, Folio, and other journals. She teaches creative writing for Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program and UC Berkeley Extension, and is a recipient of a California Arts Council Fellowship for Creative Writing. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she is one of seven sisters. She currently lives in San Francisco.

Sugarland will be available via Amazon and in select brick-and-mortar retailers as of May 12, 2016.

Find Martha on her website.