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Acclaimed publisher Mary Morris returns to her Chicago roots in this sweeping book that brilliantly catches the active atmosphere and the amazing music of the Jazz Age. In the midst of boomtown Chicago, two Jewish people have suffered awful blows. The Lehrmans, who run a little hat factory, lost their cherished child, Harold, in a blizzard. The Chimbrovas, who run a saloon, lost three of their kids on the SS Eastland when it sank in 1915. Each family keeps out hope that you of their remaining children will rise to transport on the family business. But Benny Lehrman has no interest to make hats. His true passion is piano - especially jazz. During the night he sneaks down to the South Side, slipping into mostly black clubs to hear jazz organizations play. One night he is called out and asked to sit down in on a group. His playing is first rate, and the other music artists are impressed. One of them, the trumpeter, a black man known as Napoleon, becomes Benny's good friend and musical collaborator, and their adventures along take Benny far from the life span he realized as a delivery youngster. Pearl Chimbrova identifies their talent and invites them to start out playing at her family's saloon, which Napoleon dubs The Jazz Palace. But Napoleon's main gig reaches a mob establishment, which doesn't take too kindly to freelancing. As the '20s come to a close and the bubble of prosperity collapses, Benny, Napoleon, and Pearl must all make hard options between financial survival and the music they love.
