Twelve Bar Blues

Description

Spanning three continents and two centuries Twelve Bar Blues is an epic tale of jazz and juju, fate, family and friendship which finally unfolds in the Louisiana bayou...At its heart is Lick Holden, a young jazz musician, in 1900 New Orleans. The story of Lick's search for his step-sister echoes throughout the other stories in the book - of Sylvia, the English hooker and Jim her young companion; of the mysterious seashell head-dress; of Musa, the itinerant witchdoctor and of Tongo, the frustrated African chief. And all of this structured around the harmonic progression of the 12 bar blues...

Patrick Neate is the author of five novels- Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko, which won a Betty Trask Award, Twelve Bar Blues, which won the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, The London Pigeon Wars, City of Tiny Lights and Jerusalem. His nonfiction includes Where You're At, which won the NBCC Award for Criticism in the USA. He is a Londoner.

If I could choose one current British writer to tell tall tales around my fantasy campfire, it would be Patrick Neate * Daily Telegraph * An endearing romp. Continents, and eras, come together in an infectious celebration of a mixed-up music - and the mixed-up people who create it -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * A rollicking novel...energetic, divinely plotted. If the description of Lick raising the roof of a honky-tonk doesn't make your heart beat a little faster, there might be something wrong with your heart * The Times * Hugely enjoyable * Independent on Sunday * A formidable work of imagination * Evening Standard *