'Round Midnight

What is it about the Midnight Room? In a choreographic tour de force, Laura McBride twirls four women through a Las Vegas nightclub, turning their separate lives into a suspenseful, intricate dance of mothers, daughters, wives, and lovers. The One Who Falls in June hires a charismatic black man to sing at her club, but her fast-paced lifestyle runs aground as racial tensions mount. The One Who Gets Honorata leaves the Philippines as a mail-order bride, then strikes it rich in the Midnight Room. The One Whose Heart Is Engracia finds bad luck in the Midnight Room and becomes enmeshed in Honorata’s secrets when she confronts a man with a gun. The One Who Always Coral struggles with her mysterious past until a desire to help Engracia steers her to the Midnight Room. Wise and heartbreaking, jubilant and loving, ’Round Midnight is about the intensity and intimacy of four women’s lives, lives that are connected by secrets, courage, tragedies, and small acts of kindness. This brilliantly conceived, passionately written novel will resonate long after you turn the final page.