Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm

Composed in a symphony of expertly intertwined episodes, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a captivating tale of love and longing, risk and redemption, from debut novelist Laura Warrell.
 
Circus Palmer is accustomed to life on tour. The forty-year-old jazz trumpeter knows the loneliness of dark clubs, the burn of brown liquor waiting for him at the bar, and the trail of heartbroken women he leaves in his wake as he travels from city to city with his one true love, his music. But that all changes after a fateful night in Miami that sends Circus fleeing Maggie, the radiant drummer he has grown to care for, who is pregnant with his child.
 
When Circus hits the road with his sights set on escape, his decision reverberates through the lives of the women he has known, from his past lovers to his teenage daughter, Koko, who, back home in Boston, is beginning her own journey of self-discovery. Reaching its apex, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm reveals the cost of ambitions unfulfilled and the danger of love unrequited, and soars off the page like music.
 
The following questions are designed to spark thoughtful and lively discussion for your book club’s reading of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm. We hope they enhance your experience of this gripping novel from a brilliant new voice in the literary world.