Love Street

Book excerpt: You have never read a book like Susan Perly's first novel Love Street. Open it anywhere, and out comes the voice of Miss Mercy, late-night radio DJ in New Orleans with her jive talk and old vinyl platters. Sam Cooke, Percy Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Van Morrison, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, war, art, peacetime -- Miss Mercy talks to the lonely. She swings, she bebops, growls, prays, plays blues, soul, jazz, R&B. Miss Mercy is the modern woman of all ages. She is lo-fi, urban, mysterious. She is wacky, she cascades sheets of sound. Remember when you used to listen to a radio under your pillow? Love Street is a radio novel from that world. Miss Mercy -- the sultry vinyl pirate, the Mistress of the Mike -- aims to seduce you. To remind you of the fun of words, to woo you back to the love of reading.