Monica Chenault-Kilgore Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Monica Chenault-Kilgore is a published author.

From a young age, she dreamed of being a dancer on Broadway. Sparkly costumes, stage lights and an orchestra raising their first note as the velvet curtain lifted made her long for the stage. She would watch performances of classic musicals from the thirties and forties and the themes within them would give her great joy. No one has asked her to be a dancer yet, but the magic of that time of blended storytelling and music remains.

Monica was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she grew up. She currently resides in Edison, New Jersey. She attended and graduated from The Ohio State University School of Journalism. She has since written two booklets. These sparked her interest in a certain period of time and accelerated her desire to finish her first novel.

When she is not busy writing, Monica likes to relax with her family– her husband, son, and their cat. She likes to have a fresh brewed cup of coffee (or something stronger) while listening to jazz and show tunes.

Long Gone, Come Home is a historical women’s fiction novel that goes through rhythms of African-American resistance, resilience, love, life, jazz, blues and more during the 30s to the 40s in the United States of America.

Taking place from the joyous peak of the 1930s jazz era to the time of the civil rights movement and The Great Depression, this book weaves a poetic tales of loss, life and love as one woman starts to learn the true meaning of home.

Main character Birdie Jennings wants to have a bigger life than the one she has in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. She’s the baby of her family and has a boring job tying up tobacco leaves at Wrights Factory.

When she meets Jimmy Walker, a smooth talker, it appears as though her life is about to change. He makes big promises for them to have a good life together, and an exciting one. She is swept off her feet but years after they marry, he ends up leaving without notice. Birdie is hurt and left all on her own to raise their two toddlers.

Birdie is out of options and has no money, so she moves home with her overbearing mother. She’s starting her new life but just as she does, she witnesses a horrible murder. She is urged to flee the town to avoid questioning.

She has nothing but a suitcase that isn’t hers and a note about a house in Cincinnati that was promised to Jimmy. Birdie goes to the big city just like she and her spouse talked about, and is determined to put her life back on track. Plunged into nightclub scenes and jazz clubs, dens and juke joints, she finds that she’s tougher than she thought she was. But will the scene swallow her whole? Read this book to find out!

The Jewel of the Blues is the second fictional novel to come out from Monica Chenault-Kilgore. Set in the twenties jazz era, this book ‘pulls back the curtain’ on the romance, drama, and danger involved in the backstage life of one performer.

Blues singer Lucille Arnetta Love has always been billed as ‘the little girl with the big voice’. She always wanted to be under the lights. She’s been on the rise ever since her start in a traveling family gospel band to becoming lead singer of a vaudeville troop.

However, a devastating family secret could end up shattering every dream she’s ever had. Now there is a shadow over her career where there wasn’t before. It was decades previous that a botched robbery ended up in a suspicious death, with all signs pointing to Lucille’s father as being responsible.

It’s a secret that the family wants to keep hidden, especially from Lucille. It feels like a fresh start is possible for some time, especially when she’s set up with a band to tour the country by her manager and occasional paramour Marcus Williams: Miss Lucille’s Black Troubadours.

Lucille still dreams of seeing her name in the lights of Broadway, and it may just come true. That is, if she can endure the rocky road to fame along with her band. After all, there’s a wicked underbelly to the dazzlingly glamorous vaudeville scenes. Can Lucille’s career survive all that’s being thrown at it? Read this book to find out!