1920's club dancer trying to make it amid prohibition, gangsters and an ex-lover who reappears out of thin air. Current day grad student trying to sensationalize his final project with an oral history from the very jazz baby that is now a centurion in a nursing home. This was a great story, with all the attitude and decadence of the time clearly highlighted. I appreciated the twist at the end with Bessie, never saw that coming. As a history buff, I also loved the sections of the book where Honoree rubs elbows with some of the more famous characters from that era in Chicago, such as Louis Armstrong, as she works her talents to try for a better life. The backstory into her character is sad and gives us the opportunity to understand where the toughness in her adulthood comes from, so she's very relatable. The only criticism I have is that any character besides Honoree, even Sawyer, seems to be written in a way that the author substituted attitude for depth. One example is Sawyer's sister and how he feels about it. He continuously mentions how bad he feels and how he's haunted by her, but I couldn't quite feel it.