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. But her audacious disguises enables her to perform again, and her colossal talent quickly takes her to the pinnacle of musical success. She accompanies film stars Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle on set, records piano roll duets with the young George Gershwin, and helps write the music for an "all-colored" musical revue.

But she also experiences the city's pervasive racism first-hand and risks exposure by flirting with a black tap-dancer who knew her when she was a child vaudeville star. And when she begins investigating the disappearance of a young servant girl in her Harlem boarding house, she puts her own life in jeopardy.

With cameo appearances by such period luminaries as W.E.B. Du Bois, Fannie Brice, Margaret Sanger and Eugene O'Neill, this volume of Elly's adventures is steeped in all the compelling drama and authentic history that her fans have come to expect.