Celestial Jukebox, The

The Celestial Jukebox BY CYNTHIA SHEARER (SHOEMAKER & HOARD, $25)

Fictitious Madagascar, Mississippi, sits like its island namesake amid the marshes and oxbow lakes formed by the Mississippi River. Residents hear the blues on Beale Street in nearby Memphis, at the True Light Temple of the Beautiful Name, at the Harlem Swing Club, and most of all from the cantankerous old jukebox at the Celestial Grocery.

A variety of characters-including an aging Chinese grocer, an unhappy Memphis wife, a band of Hispanic migrant workers, and a recluse who becomes a conjure woman-all perceive the world differently. Enter Boubacar, "straight off the boat," as he says, from the Islamic West African country of Mauritania. Author Cynthia Shearer's young hero hears the promise of America in the Delta blues and is ultimately uplifted by the enduring power of music. KELLY MARGARET SMITH

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation May 2005
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