Summary

Chapter 1, “House and Home” (I), opens in the late 1990s in Scotland. Millicent “Millie” Moody, the wife of recently deceased jazz musician Joss Moody, has left her home in London and has arrived at her vacation home in Torr, Scotland. Millie’s maiden name is MacFarlane, and she is about 70 years old. Reporters were hounding her in London, so she desires solitude. Millie thinks of Colman, who is her and Joss’ adopted son. Colman is an adult living in London now. Millie thinks of the time in 1956 when she first brought Joss to tour for a vacation. She then remembers her first time meeting him. It was at a bar in Glasgow in 1955. They were both in their early twenties. Millie was white and Joss was black. Despite societal racial divisions, Millie felt no wariness of Joss, only attraction. He was a trumpet player...