Denny S. Bryce — Where the False Gods Dwell
Author Denny S. Bryce discusses her novel following three women on a 1935 Caribbean expedition, tracing dance, identity, and Black elite life in Depression-era America.
Date & Time at 6:00 PM EST
Location The New York Society Library New York, US
Organizer The New York Society Library
Why we picked this
Inspired by Katherine Dunham's real research voyage, this novel braids dance ethnography with the rarely depicted world of 1930s Black elite society.
Denny S. Bryce’s historical novel follows three women navigating a 1935 Caribbean expedition inspired by choreographer Katherine Dunham’s actual research voyage to study diasporic dance forms. The narrative moves from the glittering ballrooms of Chicago’s 1930s Black elite to Jamaica’s sugarcane fields.
What makes the premise distinctive is how it weaves together dance ethnography, racial identity, and the particular pressures facing Black women of means during the Depression era — a world that rarely gets novelistic treatment.