The Palace Blues

Set in the 1920s, The Palace Blues traces the physical and emotional journey of self-discovery and identity — a quest for place for Frankie, a white, Texas tomboy who falls for Jean Bailey, an African American, cross-dressing blues singer. The novel is the first-person account of Dorothy Frances Corbin, visiting her aunt and uncle in Chicago where she meets Jean Bailey. Frankie is about to turn 18 and only slightly self-aware when she runs away to follow Jean Bailey on the vaudeville circuit. The novel begins in Chicago and travels through the South, landing for a time in a small town in Texas, where, after attempting a life with Jean Bailey on the road, Frankie will have to face her family again, the family that told her that to be successful in life she would need to "marry a rich man."