Excerpt from The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Dammit!" she said, the needle on the machine speeding up for a moment as her foot slammed on the pedal in surprise.

"Language, Mama," I said as I smiled and rose to answer the door, dodging her glare.

I stepped over the metal toy truck parked beside my chair, around the legs of my youngest brother, Harrison, who was in deep concentration trying to reattach the head he'd pulled off Eva's doll again the day before, which had been mine many years before, and jumped over a ball as it rolled across the tiny living space.

I reached the front door and pulled it open just in time to avoid the next barrage of knocking.

"I thought you weren't never gonna open up!"

I grinned into the anxious round face of my best friend, the ends of her newly bobbed blond hair swinging from beneath the beige linen cloche with off-white fabric flowers I'd made her for her last birthday.

"Sorry," I said, leaning on the door frame. "I was sewing."

She feigned surprise, pressing her hand to her open mouth, and I rolled my eyes.

"You on your way to work?" I asked.

"In this?" She waved a hand over the sleeveless peach frock with eyelet detailing along the hemline. "Heavens no. This is a daytime dress, Z."

I glanced down with bemusement at my own outdated dress with its built-in corset. Oh, the luxury of having dresses for different times of day.

Rose peeked past me into the house.

"Hi, Mrs. Hough," she singsonged, giving my mother a furtive wave before pulling me out onto the front porch.

"I'll be right back," I said over my shoulder.

"Zora," Mama warned.

"I'll only be a minute, Mama."

I closed the door and followed Rose to the street, away from the thin walls of our home, and out of my mother's earshot.

"Come tonight," Rose pleaded.

"I can't." I shook my head and laughed. I knew this was what she'd come for. Ever since she'd gotten a job dancing in one of the clubs downtown, she'd become relentless in trying to get me to come out.

It wasn't that I didn't want to. I did. Terribly. My heart ached with longing to see the lights of the city, hear the jazz music with the horns and bass Rose talked about, and see the clothes. Oh, how I longed to see what people wore out to this secret club she danced in. But my mother's disapproval of anything that involved alcohol or fun, combined with her constant reminder of my responsibilities, made it seem impossible.

"But Ellis is playing. You have to come. You've never heard him. You've never seen or heard any of it! The music...the dancing. The boys... Zora! You need to meet a boy."

I held my finger to my lips and looked back at the house to make sure my mother was still inside.

I'd never really had a boyfriend. When you're the poorest girl in school, no one wants to be your friend, much less your boyfriend. And that had been fine with me. I'd spent much of my school days trying to blend into the background, not wanting to speak up even though I knew the answers because in doing so, every eye would turn toward me and take in the castoff clothing that had been my older brother's, modified with scalloped collars, and a drooping ruffle or two. At the age of twenty-one I'd only ever been kissed twice. Both times by a shabby fella called Gordon. I couldn't say they were kisses to remember. Except for the fact that they'd happened, I probably wouldn't remember them at all.

"Zora," Mama called. Rose pressed her lips together and I turned to see my mother now standing in the doorway of our house, arms crossed over her chest. She gave Rose a brief look before going back inside and closing the door loudly.

Rose, used to my mother, giggled and then turned her pleading blue eyes back to me.

Her face was free of makeup, a rarity these days. I missed her like this. This was the Rose I loved best. The one I met on our first day of fourth grade at Ballard Elementary after her family moved to town. She'd been all gangly arms and legs, her blond hair in two long braids she was constantly twirling, and the boys were constantly pulling on. Even back then she'd been mouthy and obstinate, telling them off and shooing them away. Unlike me, who never said a word out of turn and was a fearful rule follower. If a boy pulled my hair, I didn't say a thing. But when Rose came, that all changed. If she caught them or I told her someone had bothered me, she made sure they heard about it.

Excerpted from The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar. Copyright © 2023 by Noelle Salazar. Excerpted by permission of Mira Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.