This is a decade-spanning story about Bonnie and Mansour, who meet in New York in the late 60’s. Both coming from challenging childhoods, they are drawn together by music. Mansour is an up and coming jazz musician, and Bonnie wants to work in the managing side of the industry. They travel the world together. When Mansour goes missing, Bonnie is determined to find him.

Based on the blurb, I was expecting a lot more of the story to be about the search for Mansour. There are a lot of chapters that develop a rich backstory on each of the main characters. Since I was listening to the audiobook, I felt at a disadvantage, because it was more difficult to keep track of what year it was or character names. Seeing a lot of the character names in print would have helped me a lot. All in all, it was a nice story, and I really liked how things came together in the end. But I would recommend the actual book/e-book over the audio. Also, I love the cover.

What an incredible story! Thank you so much to the publisher for allowing me to listen to this beautiful story. This story spans multiple decades across the continent and examines the lives of two different families. Bonnie and Mansour are complex and layered characters who. must comes to terms with their difficult pasts in order to secure a hopeful future for themselves. I found the story very relatable,

Mansour and Bonnie have fallen in love after meeting by chance in New York City in the late 1960’s. Mansour’s music career has been taking off, and he has been traveling the world performing. Bonnie is pregnant and stays back while Mansour goes to perform in Spain. However, when he is due to arrive back, the day comes and goes. Days turn into months. Bonnie finally finds a lead and sets off to find out what happened to Mansour.

I’d say most of the book surrounds Bonnie and Mansour independently and their family members. The book focuses heavily on their past lives and the lives of their family. This book is character driven and great for readers who love a slow character burn. While Mansour being missing is swirling the entire book, most of the book is more exploring the history and relationship of the various family and friends of Bonnie and Mansour.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a good job. After finishing the book, I almost wished I could have read the physical book. The novel is a larger, ambitious book that changes time periods and characters quite a bit. At times I was confused as to what was going on. Also, at times I did feel the story was a bit slow and wanted to just know what happened to Mansour.

Thank you to Dreamscape Select, Mai Sennaar, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, Dreamscape Select, and Mai Sennar for the ALC.

DNF'd at 17%. (I thought this was going to be more black love than black trauma, I was mistaken. I am not the target audience. I wish the book description had been more clear about this.)
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They Dream in Gold tells the story of Bonnie and Mansour, two children of African immigrants who meet and fall in love. Through a mixed assortment of settings and years, we meet the characters and the fears that drive their relationships at each stage of their life.

The story is beautifully written, and the audio narration added an extra dimension to the reading experience. The narrator easily moves through different accents, highlighting the various backgrounds that bring this story together.

The truth is, I need to accept that literary fiction may not be for me.

The conversations about migration, cheating (male Hospital ER Department Manager with a female High School Senior), emotional neglect, hate crimes, murder and familial trauma which may be enlightening and challenging for one person, I find to be too painful to be enjoyable to read. Perhaps I'm too close to the subject.

This was a great debt from Mai Sennar about a story between Bonnie and Mansour and their relationship as well as their past. I really liked the historical aspect of Mansour's mom and aunt's story and their struggles. The story is told in multiple timelines and there a lot of characters and at times a little slow. The writing is very lyrical which fits the narrative so well and Julia Kwamya did a great job bringing the story to life.

Thank you @sjplit @dreamscape_media for a copy of this book.

Description
When Bonnie and Mansour meet in New York in 1968, his piercing gaze in a downtown jazz club threatens to carry her away. Their connection is undeniable. Both from fractured homes, with childhoods spent crossing the Atlantic, they quickly find peace with each other. And as Mansour’s soaring Senegalese melodies continue to break new ground, keeping time with the sound of revolution and taking him and Bonnie from Paris to Rio and Switzerland, it seems as though happiness might finally be around the corner for them both.

Then Mansour goes missing. His Spanish tour was only meant to last three weeks, but three months later, he and his band have not returned. In his absence, Bonnie reckons with her memories of him, and comes to understand that the hopes of so many women: her mother and grandmother; his mother, aunt, childhood friends rest on her perseverance. Stirred by the life growing inside her, Bonnie puts a plan in action to find him.

Spanning two decades and moving through the hotbeds of the African diaspora, They Dream in Gold is an epic yet intimate exploration of the migrant hunger for belonging and a powerful, intergenerational testament to our shared humanity, for lovers of Tara Stringfellow’s Memphis and Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice.

My Take:
I had the opportunity to receive the Advanced Listening Copy (ALC) of this book and focused on the clarity and rhythm of the narrator, Julia Kwamya. As someone accustomed to American English, I found the foreign passages and phrases understandable and the accents to be well-executed. The audiobook, with its 11 hours of content, served as an excellent background companion that allowed for attentive listening as well as the freedom to drift and return without losing track. The narrative was skillfully crafted, culminating in a satisfying full-circle conclusion. It would make an excellent choice for book clubs, appealing to both intergenerational and multicultural audiences.

They Dream in Gold is a multigenerational story that takes place in many locales. Bonnie and Montour meet when Montour is a blooming musician and Bonnie works in a record store. I loved the jazzy feel when the conversation turned toward Montour's ambitions and jazz clubs. As the story unfolds, Montour disappears while on tour. The families gather in support and backstories are revealed about the characters. The women in particular are a strong force throughout this story.

This is a saga and a bit of a love story following Bonnie and Montour over decades and continents. I listened to this narration by Julia Kwamya. Her voice is easy to follow and I stayed connected to the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select.

This book is absolutely stunning! A couple tied together through jazz music in the turbulent '60s, Spanning several countries and two decades, this is a book through music, loss, and love. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC/Audiobook. i enjoyed it immensely.

When SJP is adamant about reading a book, you immediately find ways to ensure it gets added not only to your to be read pile, but to the top. I found myself represented with these characters, and highly enjoyed reading the different generations presented, especially learning about the different backgrounds from countries. Learning or seeing how these characters saw the world was such an interest take, and it was by far my most favorite part about this book. The writing was beautiful, the plot lines were well versed, but these characters took my heart. Women are absolutely amazing creatures, and this book showcases in a well presented manner, how strong we are.

The audio was amazing, and even though I’m sure the written word will be as lovely, Im glad I got to listen to this book. SJP was right, and I will be referring this book to everyone.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Mai Sennaar, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this audiobook is Julia Kwamya. While I did find most aspects of the narration good, the tone was a bit dry in places.

I quite enjoyed this multi-generational historical family story which focuses on the women of the Diaspora. The center of this tale is the love story of Bonnie and Mansour. The couple meet and fall in love in the late 60's. Mansour is a musician and the story covers their travels as a couple. When Mansour becomes unreachable while on tour, Bonnie, his mom, and family look for him. We learn their stories and Mansour's. I love the way this story unfolds.

Treatment of diasporic struggles is deliberately handled with a culturally relevant dexterity that I truly appreciated. I quite adored the international vibe to this!

I can't exactly specify why, but I have a feeling this novel might be better enjoyed in print. I personally plan to reread this in ebook or physical copy. Not all novels translate easily or well to audiobook format. I have a feeling that might be the case with this novel. It could also just be me. Its so hard to say.

I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Mai Sennaar, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own

OUT TOMORROW

Thank you #partner @dreamscape_media for my #gifted ALC. 🎶 🎷

They Dream in Gold
By Mai Sennaar
Narrated by Julia Kwamya

They Dream in Gold is a sweeping historical fiction novel spanning two decades and multiple continents of the African diaspora, from the perspectives of two dreamers, hungry for belonging and a sense of home. Exploring complicated family dynamics, the late 1960s music scene, and the cross-continental experiences that have shaped these characters into who they are. Sennaar's writing is rich, vivid, and melodic, and narrator Julia Kwamya does an exceptional job bringing these attributes to the forefront with her performance. A wonderful book that I binged over the course of a single weekend. 🩷

📌 Available 7/30

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Thank you netgalley and dreamscape select for the ALC. My opinions are being left voluntarily. What a g4eat debut expertly weaved together interconnected emotional book. Iat timea i found it slow moving and wiah things conected together a bit faster i loved the opening.. the narrators did a fabulous job.

4.5/5☆

Debut??? Damn!

A generational-sweeping-interconnected story of a woman married to a musician in the late sixties clawing to make it in the jazz music world. The story jumps around in the timeline and tangents into other people’s stories and how they impact the main character Bonnie but the writing is captivating and smart which keeps you engaged and not confused.

It has mystery and social political commentary, love and romance and is very enjoyable.

Thanks to netgalley and Dreamscape media for an alc.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select audio for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

Mai Sennaar’s debut novel is beautifully polished and sophisticated in structure and narrative. Her brief prologue explains her need to write about the ´fusion’ of cultures that is so often overlooked by a focus on racial and cultural divisions, even within the racialized communities that were diffused across the globe by imperialism. In short, while many things divide us, ultimately we are all products of centuries of mixing, blending, and harmonizing as well as clashing.

The story spans roughly two decades. When it opens in 1969. nineteen year old Bonnie is heavily pregnant and living in a room above Mama Eva’s restaurant near Lausanne, Switzerland. There is a small Senegalese community settled there, along with others seeking new lives outside of Africa and the Middle East. They help each other, they exploit and are exploited, and they are at once free of many old world restraints while still dealing with new world racism, often ugly. Many, like Mama Eva, are illegal immigrants, living tensely between two worlds, ambivalent about going home but fearful of being forced to do so.

Bonnie is herself a product of different cultures. Her beautiful mother Claudine, born to a respected African-American middle class family, went to France against her parents’ wishes when she enlisted for service and was sent to do war duty with a mixed-race dance troupe. Bonnie was born of rape, her father an unknown assailant. After a few years of living in a car and relying on the generosity of friends, her alcoholic mother sends her to live with her own mother in New York.

This is a very sensory novel, the language marvelling in colour, smell, taste, and especially sound. The sounds of her mother’s beloved American jazz and blues, ‘a beautiful blend of Afro-Cuban strains,’ accompanies the commotion of her childhood. The music, the instruments, the singing, the sounds of dancing, are her sharpest memories: ´we came from sound.’

Bonnie came to be pregnant and awaiting childbirth with Mama Eva because her soulmate Mansour also ´came from sound. ´ A singer and musician whose ´sound’ melded African folk music, French sacred music, American, Cuban and Brazilian influences, his childhood was curiously similar to Bonnie’s. Born in difficult circumstances in a socially prominent Senegalese family, the circumstances of his birth also made his early years peripatetic. Neither knew the stability of home and parental love.

Bonnie and Mansour nearly meet a few times before meeting. She works as an assistant editor for a small record label in New York. He travels with his Irish-born best friend from Paris, where they grew up, to the United States, hoping to get a recording contract. She hears their demo and falls in love. When they finally meet, they feel they have always known each other. Mansour takes her to Mama Eva for safeguarding while he begins an important tour of Spain. Then he disappears and Bonnie refuses to believe that he has either abandoned her and their child or died, even when he has been gone without word for many months and his family is preparing for a funeral without a body.

Except in flashback, where their soul-closeness is evident, the two spend little time together in this book. Bonnie is confined to her upstairs room for the final stage of her complicated pregnancy, and spends much time alone, smelling Mama ´s wonderful African cooking, listening to the clatter around her, reflecting on her childhood and their short time together. Mansour is mostly away on tour, where he also goes over the bittersweet memories of his childhood in Senegal and Paris. Mama Eva likewise revisits her life. Their stories intersect in ways that seem mystical.

The novel has its own ´sound’ one that stays with the reader long after finishing it. It is more than the story of two young people who seem destined to meet, fall deeply for each other, and start their own family despite their own problematic upbringing. Like Mansour’s music, the story transcends those conventions. The narration by Julia Kwamya is solid, though I found it a bit flat on occasion, especially for a story that is so often soaring. The ending is a bit all-out ´Hollywood’ for my tastes, the building anxieties and suspicions resolved virtually overnight and very dramatically. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The novel, as noted, is very sensory and would translate well to the screen. I especially love how the author fulfils her objective to focus on our commonalities despite our far more visible differences. As Mansour expresses it, much as Bonnie had, ‘on the inside, everybody has a sound,’ unique but also harmonious.

Thank you, Dreamscape Select, for the advance audiobook copy.

The writing is good and the characters do stand out.

The story stands true with the blurb.

However, I will wait for the book to come out so that I can savour the second half.

I appreciate the audiobook but this book is one which I feel would be experienced reading better with a physical copy in a cosy environment.

I have been so excited to read this story since I saw the cover and read the synopsis and it did not disappoint! I love this story for the multigenerational trials that are held together by family over time. I love the combination of the love story throughout time that spread through generation. I got through this audiobook so fast because I was so entranced by the story over all. I could not put it down. It was so emotional and beautiful.

As the first book by this author it is a unique perspective on the changing tides of someone's life and how priorities move as you grow older. This book tells the story of two generations of families and is told from each of the main characters' perspectives. Set against the backdrops of multiple countries, we see the world through the eyes of people who are seeking their own dreams while reconciling with their pasts and the places they call home. The desire to succeed, the hard work, the obstacles faced, all beautifully laid out with gorgeous writing, tenderness, and deep emotion. A sprawling story of intercontinental travel, this is an intergenerational tale that should be produced on the big screen. This was a story on how other's not only affect our lives as they come into and leave it, but how we carry and pass on, whether familial, friendship, or romantic, those little grains of emotional experiences from one generation to another.