I found this fair-condition hardcover at the local library's ongoing book sale, and thought it looked intriguing. It's about an 18th-century English ship's surgeon who finds himself in 20th century Harlem! Since he plays the violin, he finds a place in the world of jazz, and there are some truly lyrical passages describing the improvisations - it even sounded enticing to me, and I'm not a big jazz fan.

The story itself includes some realistic tidbits of life in Harlem in the '30s (or thereabouts - I wasn't sure), but while there's violence and prejudice here and there, for the most part it's almost dreamlike, with our hero seldom seeming to be all that concerned about the strange place in which he's found himself.

So... a very unusual story, with some passages that touched me very much - but with a main character so remote that I found it hard to get attached.

I plan to leave this book in or near B.T.'s Smokehouse on Main St. at around 1:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it! [p.s. Try the bison-burger - it's magnificent!]

*** Released as part of the 2015 September Sapphire release challenge. ***