Blues in the Blood

A moving ode to the Mississippi delta inspired by magical realism and written in vibrant and poetic prose.

Blues in the Blood is an ode to the spring of 1932 in the Mississippi delta, when stifling heat crushed the countryside and threatened the harvest, pervasive injustice ruled the day, and ghostly riders of the Ku Klux Klan spread terror. A panoramic historical and musical portrait, Blues in the Blood follows a poor young Black couple who believe their love for each other will save them from this devastation. Julien Delmaire introduces us to a gallery of figures: Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, mulattos, landowners, itinerant bluesmen, preachers, witches, corrupt politicians, prisoners, bootleggers, and Legba, the voodoo god, "master of crossroads," who, like an otherworldly detective, watches over people's destinies. As the story unfolds, a world is reborn: the delta, the birthplace of the blues, in which oppressed women and men rediscover the voices and rhythms of their humanity.



About the Author
Born in 1977 in France, Julien Delmaire is an Afropean novelist and poet. For twenty years, he has made multiple poetic performances on stage all over the world and led writing workshops in schools, prisons, and psychiatric hospitals. He is the author of seven collections of poems and four novels. Teresa Lavender Fagan is a translator of many books, including J. M. G. Le Clézio's The Mexican Dream, Mydriasis, and To the Icebergs.