Books n' Brew

Sing Her Name by Rosalyn Story

We read a variety of genres and meet at McCarty Mills Taproom one Wednesday a month to socialize, discuss books, and enjoy libations! November's selection: Sing Her Name by Rosalyn Story

The Books n' Brew Book Discussion group meets at McCarty Mills Taproom, a relaxed setting to socialize, discuss books, and enjoy libations. McCarty Mills Taproom is at 140 S. River St., Unit 108, across the street from the Santori Library, and food/drink is available for purchase. For adults 19+.

Books are selected by the group or facilitating librarian, and copies are available on the 3rd floor of the Santori Public Library and at the West Branch Library Reference Desk. Contact Cesar Ortega at cortega@aurorapubliclibrary.org or call 630/264-3612 for more information. 

We will be discussing Sing Her Name by Rosalyn Story:

Sing Her Name follows two musically gifted women whose lives overlap across the boundaries of time. This third novel by Rosalyn Story, whose critically acclaimed books treat the central role of Black people in American music, is her best and most rewarding yet.

Beautiful and brilliantly talented Celia DeMille is a nineteenth-century concert artist who has garnered fame, sung all over the world, and amassed a fortune. But prejudice bars her from achieving her place in history as one of the world’s greatest singers, and she dies in poverty and obscurity.

In 21st-century New Orleans, Eden Malveaux, a thirty-something waitress with a beautiful but untutored voice, is the sole guardian of her 17-year-old brother. Motherless for most of their lives, she has struggled for years to make ends meet as she fights to keep the promise she made to their dying to protect her wayward brother and raise him as if he were her own child. After a hurricane displaces them to New York City, Eden seeks safe refuge—not only from the ensuing flood, but also to hide her brother from the law, while she works to divert him from a path of crime, prison, or worse.

Months into their New York stay, Eden’s estranged Great Aunt Julia summons her back to New Orleans for a brief visit, and the older woman gives Eden something that alters the course of her a box she found in the midst of flooded rubble containing a hundred-year-old scrapbook and a mysterious and valuable gold pendant necklace belonging to one of the greatest singers in history—Celia DeMille.

Eden returns to New York, but as she explores the artifacts of Celia DeMille’s extraordinary life, curiosity grows into obsession, then into an inspiration that propels Eden into a world she never dreamed. With the help of new friends, and buoyed by the diva’s story, Eden’s new life in New York takes a dramatic turn toward unimagined success.

But just as she is poised to make her mark on the world stage, her brother’s dangerous choices catch up with them, and Eden must confront buried secrets from her complicated childhood. To face the promise of her future, Eden must first reconcile years of regrets and leave behind the guilt of the past—and perhaps even the brother she loves. (Goodreads)

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