Round Midnight

March 20, 2017
McBride’s (We Are Called to Rise) second novel tells the moving, intertwined stories of four women in Las Vegas. In 1960, June and her husband, Del, run the El Capitan casino and draw crowds with talented singer Eddie Knox. June’s life seems blessed until a tragedy strikes that will upend everything and force her to reconsider running the casino. Jumping forward to the 1990s, Honorata is a mail order bride from the Philippines, sold by her own uncle, who now lives a comfortable life in Las Vegas as the housewife of a wealthy man—until she wins the jackpot at El Capitan. Coral is a music teacher in a Las Vegas school and stops by the casino frequently, drawn by the memories of her father, who was Del’s best friend. Meeting up with her siblings, past events are revealed and considered in a new light, and Coral discovers how to move beyond old hang-ups. In the last section, taking place in 2010, Engracia works at the now-decrepit El Capitan as a housekeeper to support her young son until her heart is broken by an unexpected loss. In addition to being linked by El Capitan, this diverse group of complex women intersect in surprising ways as the years pass. Las Vegas itself is a character in this immersive novel that effectively exhibits the changes to the city throughout the decades. This is a tale of love, loss, and the unexpected, unheralded ways that lives meet around blackjack and roulette tables.

Following multiple lives over six decades, this is a story of cultural shifts, the effects of racial prejudice, and family secrets. Joy Osmanski's narration is engaged and easy to listen to. There are times when her narration is uneven and character accents are inconsistent, but she moves the story along at an excellent pace. Will Damron capably narrates a few descriptive paragraphs at the beginning to set the scene. During the '50s, as bombs are explode in Nevada's deserts to entertain Las Vegas tourists, four sets of characters experience the destruction caused by prejudice and social upheaval in their lives. The author skillfully integrates the lives of vivid and realistic characters, bringing them to a satisfying and surprising denouement in the final chapters. L.M.A. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine