During the 1970s, Verdi’s relationship with street-smart Johnson leads her to heroin and the brink of destruction. Rescued by a conservative professor willing to give up everything for her, she lives a quiet, comfortable life for 20 years--until Johnson returns to re-ignite old passions. Pulled uncontrollably toward the reckless appetites of her youth, Verdi struggles to understand her desires and to decide where she wants life to take her next. Best-selling author Diane McKinney-Whetstone fills this lush, lyrical novel with the steamy intensity of great jazz music. Myra Lucretia Taylor adds a rich, rhythmic voice to Verdi’s dangerous, intoxicating, and utterly unforgettable dance of self-discovery.