The Artfulness of Women: A Novel

Between blues and bloodlines, she found her own song.Bayla Szabo dreams of singing in Depression-era New York, but poverty, abandonment, and her mother’s strict expectations stand in her way. The blues of Bessie Smith keep her hope alive—but life has other plans. Bayla's daughter Leena struggles with her own contradictions: the desire for stability, and the pull of unconventional love. Then comes Jackie, Leena's daughter and Bayla’s granddaughter, whose voice lights up the stage. With Bayla cheering her on, Jackie chases Broadway dreams while navigating family fractures and the pressures of carrying three generations’ hopes and wounds. The Artfulness of Women is a multigenerational story of ambition, love, and resilience. Tender and unflinching, it asks: what is inherited, what can be broken, and how do women—through song, art, and sheer will—carve their own path? Read more