Why a Booktrail?
1922: Come to the town that never was.
Cahokia Jazz
Why a Booktrail?
1922: Come to the town that never was.
What you need to know before your trail
In a city that never was, in an America that never was, on a snowy night at the end of winter, two detectives find a body on the roof of a skyscraper.
It’s 1922, and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. But in this 1922, things are a little different. Beside the Mississippi, the ancient indigenous city of Cahokia has lived on. It is now a teeming industrial metropolis, containing every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that body on the roof is about to spark off a week of drama that will spill the secrets of this altered world, and bring it, against a soundtrack of jazz clarinets and wailing streetcars, either to destruction or rebirth.
Travel Guide
Cahokia
Cahokia sits just across the Mississippi river from St Louis. In the novel we are in the state of Deseret. This was actually a state proposed by the Mormons in the 19th century. Here, it is beside the Navajo state of Dinétah. Cahokia is home to takouma – Native Americans; taklousa – people of African origin; and takata – Europeans. Anopa is the native language of the many tribes in Cahokia and you soon get a feel for the language.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Cahokia Jazz
Destination: Cahokia, Missouri/Illinois Author/guide: Francis Spufford Departure Time: 1922
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