“Being a negro woman in America teaches you resilience. You learn to focus on the good, even when it’s hard.”
It’s 1943 and Hazel Scott is a black woman breaking boundaries in the entertainment world. She is a prolific jazz musician, a TV and film star and also a civil rights advocate in her own way. She meets Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a preacher turned politician who sweeps her up with his charm except for the fact that he is married. Hazel cannot resist him and the two go on to have a long relationship filled with ups and downs. The book takes us along the rollercoaster of their relationship that includes Hazel losing herself and opportunities, while trying to maintain the facade of a power couple.
“When a mistress becomes a wife, that means the mistress spot is now open”
I was reading this book and smiling at the familiar names like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone etc. I was already fascinated by the fact that Tate was seamlessly incorporating a fictional character and building a world around her with real life people. So imagine my surprise, 80% into the book when Quincy Jones makes an appearance and I decide to do a google search and realize that HAZEL SCOTT IS REAL! quickly followed by shame that I had never heard of Hazel Scott – but I believe that was the author’s goal in writing this book, giving her name life.
“One day, you’ll look up and realize you’ve poured yourself out for everyone else—and there’s nothing left for you”
The book centers around the life of Hazel, and her messy love life that includes having a husband as her op. The story takes us through the years from Harlem to DC to Paris and feels like peeking behind the curtain of the every day lives of the names we have heard so much about. I truly appreciate and respect what Tate did with this book because it had to have taken a LOT of time and research to create and build this world. Some creative liberties were taken but they were taken at the right spots and kept the story moving. At certain times, the writing felt a bit amateurish and I had to remind myself that it was probably better that way vs. an overwritten story that was already complex and had many moving parts.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and was swept away by the world “enhanced” by Tate. The book had me googling so many things and I learned a lot that I did not know before. This was historical fiction done right and I definitely recommend.
Taynement
TwoNightStands 