Books like Half-blood blues by Esi Edugyan

Set against the backdrop of Nazi‑occupied Europe, "Half‑blood blues" follows the Hot‑Time Swingers, a popular German‑American jazz ensemble whose "degenerate music" has been banned in Berlin. One night in Paris, their young, black trumpeter Hieronymus Falk is seized by the Gestapo and never seen again. Twenty‑two years later, Falk has become a jazz legend, the subject of a celebratory documentary filmed in 1992 Berlin. Two surviving American band members, Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, attend the premiere, and Sid—who had never spoken about Falk’s disappearance—finds himself compelled to break his silence. Through vivid recollections of smoky Berlin bars and Parisian salons, Sid reconstructs the pre‑war world of music, friendship, love, and betrayal, weaving themes of race, loyalty, and redemption into a compelling narrative about the power of music and memory.

First publish date: 2011