Book excerpt: One of America's first great love stories of the twenty-first century Jake, a poor white boy from Appalachia, is a musical genius. When he arrives at Juilliard on a scholarship, the first person he meets is Jasmine, also a talented student, but enormously rich, cultivated, and the cherished daughter of a powerful Black family. Their love affair is strongly opposed by Jasmine's relatives and only half-heartedly accepted by Jake's. Growing in fame and prestige as both performer and composer, the innocent boy from the hills and the beautiful and sophisticated Jasmine of Newport and Central Park West struggle against hostility and outright violence in their attempt to find happiness together. Written in straightforward but lyrical prose that brings the music itself to life on page after page, the story unfolds in New York, Newport, Paris, the Berkshires, and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Strengthened by a subplot involving Jasmine's lawyer brother and his actor-lover Lance, the novel sweeps the reader along with its rapid development and full cast of intriguing characters, all caught up in a web of complex relationships that defy the destructive power of bigotry and racism.