THE JEWEL OF THE BLUES by Monica Chenault-Kilgore

This review was published in the November 2024 issue of Historical Novels Review

In the early 20th century, Lucille Love, the “Little Girl with the Big Voice,” comes of age in the face of racial prejudices and hardscrabble poverty. Musical talent propels the Love family onto the sawdust revival trail in Southern US states, singing Gospel hymns at churches and healing crusades. Lucille’s talent shines bright, and she joins with her manager, Marcus, to break away from her parents and her strict religious upbringing. After joining up with three talented musicians, she relaunches her career as Miss Lucille’s Black Troubadours.

Lucille, Marcus and the musicians are drawn with depth, and many scenes are memorable as they experience the highs of performing and the lows of existing as impoverished, hand-to-mouth entertainers. The writing shines when Lucille “sings with grace” and “swings those hips” and comes alive on stage. The reader is immersed in vivid period detail like pomade and fancy hairstyles, gold-beaded costumes, rhinestone bracelets, feathers and klieg lights. But Lucille’s musical career is threatened by a family secret. In the first scene of the book, Lucille’s father serendipitously comes upon a dying bank robber and faces an impossible choice. His decision comes back to threaten Lucille years later. The story of the robbery starts the book strongly, but its resolution seems somewhat undeveloped. The Jewel of the Blues is author Chenault-Kilgore’s second historical novel and will be relished by her readers who are interested in the early 20th century jazz era.