The Blues and Billie Armstrong - by Roy Dufrain (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Archer King is thirteen years old in the midst of the historic upheavals of 1970 America.

After his mother's mysterious death, his father remarries and he gains a stepsister-the barefoot, braless, hand-on-hip seventeen-year-old Billie Armstrong, whose larger-than-life personality and radical politics open Archer's eyes to new ideas (and feelings) but cause friction in the small town, especially with Archer's hero, local baseball legend Hank Timmons, home on leave before shipping out to the war in Vietnam.

When they discover a cache of old records and love letters, Archer and Billie team up in a quest to learn the truth about his mother's secret affair and its connection to her death. But their investigation is sidetracked when the sparks between Billie and Hank erupt into flames.

Forty years later, Archer is a prize-winning San Francisco newspaper columnist renowned as a fearless truth-teller. At the height of his success, Billie is captured after decades on the run from a murder charge. Archer can clear her name only by revealing the secrets he's kept hidden since that fateful spring of 1970. Secrets that will risk his career, his financial wellbeing, his personal brand, his very identity... and ultimately his freedom.

Review Quotes

"Four stars... a powerful story of love, risk, and redemption... a timely novel given the political upheaval America is currently experiencing.... stays with you long after you finish." - The Indie Lit Lounge

"Dufrain's language grips you by the throat and won't let go. His colorful and true-to-life characters leap off the page and into your heart, thrilling and disappointing you at every turn." - Carole Stivers, author of The Mother Code