Blackbird
Blues. Jean K. Carney. Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company. October 2019. pb, 218 pp.; ISBN: 978-1949290226.
Mary Kay O”
Donnell lives a life parallel to a masterful jazz performance. She’s an aspiring jazz singer who initially
has to decide whether she will enter a convent in Chicago. Then she has to make a decision about an
unwanted pregnancy. During this time,
she is mourning the death of a nun, Sister Michaeline, who as Mary Kay’s
mentor. Sister Michaeline was a nun who
always responded out of the box but who guided Mary Kay with advice that built
up Mary Kay’s positive self-image. The
loss is so huge and the pain staggering.
At the same
time Mary Kay’s neighbor introduces her to the literary works of James Baldwin
and the other nuns to the growing civil rights movement. Then Mary Kay finds herself wrapped up in the
world of an African-American Lucius who is a jazz performer. He also gives Mary Kay the diary of Sister
Michaeline which was written during her early years as a nun. The excerpts have a major impact on Mary Kay
as do the singing lessons from Lucius.
They also make visits to local art museums and galleries and they visit
jazz clubs that are popular in the African-American world.
Mary Kay’s
decision about her pregnancy provides a devastating chapter, a time she will
forever mourn. During this period, she
discovers things about Sister Michaeline that are shocking and which Mary Kay
understands from her present feelings for Lucius.
This is
remarkable historical fiction that is poignant and mind-blowing in intensity.
The greatest jazz pieces are depicted as swirling bands of rising and falling
notes that sometimes spin out of control and then develop into a harmonious
sound that is unpredictable. That is
also Mary Kay’s life during the turbulent 1960s, a time in which change is
feared, misunderstood, delighted in and held close. Jean Carney is a talented writer who has
penned an unforgettable story that reflects a time of change and emergence into
new culture and form. It holds parallels
with our present age! Delightful and highly recommended read!
