Stranded in Manhattan (and still a notorious fugitive, wanted for a crime she didn't commit), 16-year-old piano prodigy Elly Robin concocts the mad ruse of dying her skin to pass as a "Negro"--the enlightened term for an African American in 1916. Her audacious disguise enables her to perform again, and her colossal talent quickly takes her to the pinnacle of such musical success as her adopted race allows. But she also experiences the city's pervasive racism first-hand, and risks exposure by flirting with Smiley Hobson, the brilliant tap-dancer who knew her when she was a child vaudeville star. And when Elly begins investigating the disappearance of a young servant girl from her boarding house, she puts her own life in jeopardy... With cameo appearances by such period luminaries as W.E.B. Du Bois, Eugene O'Neill and the young George Gershwin, the seventh volume of Elly's adventures is steeped in all the compelling drama and authentic history her fans have come to expect.