Thad is your run of the mill fourteen year old from Beloit, Alabama in 1948. When his grandmother offers to send him to Harlem for the first three weeks of his summer break Thad is ecstatic. After all it is the birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance. All Thad knows about Harlem is Jazz music and Langston Hughes. When Thad finally gets there it is hardly the Harlem he’s heard and read about. Harlem has now become a crime and poverty stricken area where shootings and drug addiction have begun to run rampant in the former Black Arts mecca. The old Jazz clubs are all shut down and the corners are filled with hustlers and former musicians turned junkies looking for a fix. With the help of his cousin Willie, Thad will get a crash course in life outside of his rural Alabama town. This insightful look at the end of the Jazz era offers a gritty real world perspective from the creative mind of novelist Brendan Whitt. This historical fiction piece is one that is sure to keep you turning the page.
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