Berlin, 1939. A young, black, brilliant trumpet-player, Hieronymus, is hauled off by the Nazis to Sachsenhausen based on the colour of his skin. As the novel unfolds, Sid, the narrator and conscience of the novel, details the friendships, love affairs, and treacheries that led to Hiero’s horrific fate. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid, with his distinctive and compelling German-American slang, leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world, and into the heart of his own guilty conscience.
Half-Blood Blues, the second novel by an exceptionally talented young writer, is an electric, heart-breaking story about music, race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.
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