Blues Dancing: A Novel
by Diane McKinney-Whetstone

From the beloved author of Tumbling and Tempest Rising comes a new novel, Blues Dancing—a richly spun tale of love and passion, betrayal, redemption, and faith, set in contemporary Philadelphia.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi’s relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters’ lives in provocative ways.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi’s relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters’ lives in provocative ways.In the early seventies, Verdi, a pampered, cloistered daughter of a southern preacher, heads to Philadelphia to enroll at the university. There she meets Johnson, a city boy. Their differences draw them together—he loves her gentility, she is seduced by his charisma. Their relationship is pure sweetness until Johnson teaches her the one thing that will change her life irrevocably—how to love heroin. Enter Rowe, the conservative black professor who rescues Verdi from her overwhelming addiction and then falls desperately in love with her, leaving his sophisticated wife for this confused southern girl. Rowe and Verdi live a comfortable existence for twenty years, even though he attempts to strain Verdi’s relationship with her first cousin and dearest friend, Kitt. As the novel opens, Kitt tells Verdi that Johnson is back in town and Verdi feels her safe and protected world teeter off balance. Once they lay their eyes on each other, they realize that the years have not dulled their passion as they skid uncontrollably toward the desires of their youth. Blues Dancing makes for rich interplay as the author allows time to inform her characters’ lives in provocative ways.