The bestselling author of “White Collar Girl” and “What the Lady Wants” explores one woman’s journey of self-discovery set against the backdrop of a musical and social revolution.


In the middle of the twentieth century, the music of the Mississippi Delta arrived in Chicago, drawing the attention of entrepreneurs like the Chess brothers. Their label, Chess Records, helped shape that music into the Chicago Blues, the soundtrack for a transformative era in American History.


But, for Leeba Groski, Chess Records was just where she worked…
Leeba doesn’t exactly fit in, but her passion for music and her talented piano playing captures the attention of her neighbor, Leonard Chess, who offers her a job at his new record company. What begins as answering phones and filing becomes much more as Leeba comes into her own as a songwriter and befriends performers like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry, and Etta James. But she also finds love with a black blues guitarist named Red Dupree.


With their relationship unwelcome in segregated Chicago and shunned by Leeba’s Orthodox Jewish family, she and Red soon find themselves in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement and they discover that, in times of struggle, music can bring people together.

 “The rise of the Chicago Blues scene… is indelibly portrayed with the perfect pitch of a true artist.”

Melanie Benjamin New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue
Melanie Benjamin

“An up-tempo song of love, music, and the Civil Rights movement.”

Stephanie Dray New York Times Bestselling co-author of America’s First Daughter
Stephanie Dray

“Bursting with the vitality of the new blues scene in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s.”

Andrew Gross Author of The One Man
Andrew Gross

“Colorful personalities, fun cameos, and forbidden love light up Renee Rosen’s immersive story…”

Laura Kamoie New York Times bestselling co-author of America’s First Daughter
Laura Kamoie

“Both epic and intimate in scale, Windy City Blues captures a defining moment in history…”

Greer Macallister USA Today bestselling author of The Magician’s Lie
Greer Macallister

“An ode to diversity and love’s enduring power to unite. A message we need to hear—and sing out— most especially in these times.”

Sarah McCoy New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker's Children
Sarah McCoy

“Fast paced and impeccably researched…A timely, captivating love story that kept me reading long into the night.”

Kristina McMorris New York Times bestselling author of The Edge of Lost
Kristina McMorris

“… Rosen deftly defines the struggles facing whites, blacks, Jews and immigrants in a changing world… I was mesmerized from the first page.”

Laura Lane McNeal Author of Dollbaby
Laura Lane McNeal

“For anyone who loves rock-and-roll and the blues, Rosen’s novel is perfection… A not-to-be-missed novel that hits all the right notes.”

 RT Book Review Top Pick