Ivory Joe — Martyn Burke

Originally published by Bantam Books and hailed by critics, this love story, set in 1950s New York, Havana, and the deep south, begins with a divorce. In the eyes of Christie, their young daughter, Leo, and Tina Klein, mismatched and volatile, belong together.

Leo, a charming rogue and a player in New York's garment industry, skates too close to the mob. Tina, a leftist activist who regularly pickets on behalf of the disadvantaged, has appointed herself manager of Joseph (“Ivory Joe”) Coulter, an ex boxer and a heart-busting black musician at a turning point in popular music history.

Meg Wolitzer wrote in the New York Times: “Mr. Burke weaves a deft plot involving the attempted theft of one of Ivory Joe's songs, ‘Ghost Lover,' and the ensuing escapades are frantic and convincing….Martyn Burke knows his territory and he keeps a jazzed up pace appropriate to the story and the era. …A real pleasure.”