When a good church girl starts singing in a jazz club and falls for the music—as well as a handsome, African-American man—she struggles to reconcile her childhood faith with her newfound passions.
Raised in the Danish-Baptist Church, Rose Sorensen believes it’s wrong to sing anything but hymns. Singing worldly songs is a sin. But Rose still yearns for the songs she hears on the radio—Cheek to Cheek, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes—and sings them when no one is around.
One day, Rose’s cousin takes her to Calliope’s, a jazz club, where she discovers an exciting world she never knew existed. Here, blacks and whites mingle, brought together by their shared love of music. And though Rose worries it’s wrong—given that her parents already have a hard-working, stable husband in mind for her—she can’t stop thinking about the handsome African-American pianist of The Chess Men, Theo Chastain, who seems to have noticed her as well. When Rose returns to the jazz club, she is offered a role of singer for The Chess Men. The job would provide money to care for her sister Sophy, who has cerebral palsy—but at what cost?
As Rose gets to know Theo, their fledgling relationship faces prejudices she never imagined. And as she struggles to balance the dream world of Calliope’s with her cold, hard reality, she also wrestles with God’s call for her life. Can she be a jazz singer? Or will her faith—like the dream world of her nights—evaporate?
Set in Depression-era Chicago and rich in historical detail, Sing for Me is a beautiful, evocative story about finding real, unflinching love, and embracing—at all costs—your calling.