MAGNIFICENT REBEL Nancy Cunard in Jazz Age Paris

Rosy Armitage's British accent helps create a fairy-tale atmosphere around socialite Nancy Cunard as this biography begins. Cunard, a leading figure on the 1920s Paris social scene, was a poet and small- press operator. She was romantically involved with famous authors such as Aldous Huxley and Ezra Pound. However, the relationship central to Cunard's life story is with Black musician Henry Crowder. Armitage captures Cunard's emotions through her intense delivery of author Anne de Courcy's summary of a Cunard essay. Armitage narrates Crowder's first feelings of love and his increasing anger as the relationship runs into the prejudices of the era with the same intensity. The couple's visit to New York City brings tabloid headlines, and listeners will feel their tension as they face bigotry. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2023]