num_pages: 416
description: Spanning three continents and two centuries, Twelve Bar Blues is an epic tale of fate, family, friendship and jazz. At its heart is Lick Holden, a young jazz musician, who sets New Orleans on fire with his cornet at the beginning of the last century. But Lick's passion is to find his lost step-sister and that's a journey that leads him to a place he can call 'home'. Meanwhile, at the other end of the century, we find Sylvia, an English prostitute, and Jim, a young drifter. They're in search of Sylvia's past, lost somewhere in the mists of the Louisiana bayou.Patrick Neate has written a story that straddles time and space, love and friendship, roots and pilgrimage and everything between. Poignant and hilarious, it will hook you - like a favourite tune - till the end.
language: English
title: Twelve Bar Blues
titlecomplete: Twelve Bar Blues
genres: Fiction, Historical, Music, Book Club, Novels, Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Jazz, Africa
ratings_count: 779
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Whitbread Award
category: Novel
publisher: Penguin UK