At the age of five, a blind African-American boy is handed over to a brutal state home. Here Ludlow Washington will suffer for eleven years, until his prodigious musical talent provides him an unlikely ticket back into the world.

The property of a band, playing for down-and-outs in a southern dive, Ludlow's pioneering flair will take him to New York and the very top of the jazz scene - where his personal demons will threaten to drag him back down to the bottom.

A Drop of Patience is the story of a gifted and damaged man entirely set apart - by blindness, by race, by talent - who must wrestle with adversity and ambition to generate the acceptance and self-worth that have always eluded him.


Did not download in time to give feedback.

I enjoyed the other book by the same author that was printed earlier. This one had a very intriguing introduction but the storyline was not for me. The focus on physical needs and the actions were not expected and I was not very invested.
I tried a couple of times, the concept is still good but I couldn't finish the book so I will be unable to provide a full review online

A Drop of Patience was an interesting read. I really enjoyed it for the most part, but it felt like it didn't really go anywhere. I expected some drastic character development for Ludlow, though I understand why the author didn't include it. I would have loved it to be longer as I wanted to find out more about Ludlow and his story.

I'm a fan of jazz music and have always wanted to learn the history of it and I feel like I learned a lot from this book. I could not imagine how tough being a black - and blind - jazz musician at the height of its popularity and facing racism. I thought Ludlow's story was intriguing and it has inspired me to research more into real jazz musicians and learn about them.

I highly recommend this story to jazz enthusiasts looking for a raw and unique story.

It's a fascinating read that aged well and kept me hooked till the last page.
I found the theme fascinating and the plot engrossing. The cast of characters is not always likeable but they're all well written and interesting.
It could be a very long review as there's a lot of themes in this novel and all of them are important but I prefer to keep it simple.
An excellent read, highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.