Land of Sins and Promise - by Jay G Grubb (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Book Club Favorite."

On the eve of his engagement to Margaret, daughter of a powerful press baron, Margaret's father offers a Faustian bargain. A foreign correspondent position, but he must sail to New York immediately.

Instead of fame, a vengeful editor forces Joshua to cover low-life minstrel shows. Joshua confronts an alien world of Jim Crow, race passing, seances, dollar princesses, gold cures, muscular Christianity, sex parlors, Native Americans, gay theatre, and all manner of Gilded Age excess. Joshua struggles to make sense of the life and murder trial of his friend, the first black recording star, George Washington Johnson.

Challenged by the charismatic Black anti-lynching activist Eva Hope Moon, he rallies to her cause while trying to resist his attraction to her. Meanwhile, Margaret resents Joshua's absence and restrictions on her desire to attend college.

Just as Joshua is finding his feet, an informer tips Nowak on the Banks' family secret, a scandal that threatens to destroy Joshua's very identity. Joshua must either remake himself or lose everything.

About the Author

Jay G. Grubb is an entertainment attorney working in music, film, and publishing. As a professor teaching the history of jazz, blues, and pop he has confronted the complexities and contradictions of American culture that are at the core of Land of Sins and Promise. He was a columnist for Script Magazine (now merged with Final Draft), and received an Achievement Award in Writing from the National Council of Teachers of English. He is a frequent speaker, including lectures at Peabody Institute and the Maryland Institute College of Arts.

He loves to travel, especially to scout the locations used in his writing.