At first glance, THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV reads like an oral history of a rock band at a pivotal moment in our country's history. Initially, I was reminded of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s excellent 1970s-era music novel, DAISY JONES & THE SIX. Certainly that book also touches on serious issues, but the farther I got into Dawnie Walton’s debut, the more I realized that her storytelling was even more compelling, giving the novel a whole additional layer for readers to consider.

Growing up in Detroit in the 1960s, Opal knew she was never going to be as pretty, or as good at singing, as her half-sister, Pearl. But she also had a swagger and flair that the God-fearing Pearl lacked. When the two Black sisters spent summers visiting relatives in the Deep South, they got their first taste of Jim Crow, and of white Southerners’ disdain for their Black neighbors.

"Walton’s debut is bold, audacious and endlessly fascinating --- much like Opal Jewel herself."

Meanwhile, white English singer-songwriter Neville Charles is on the cusp of making it big, but he and his producer agree that he needs to find a collaborator to help make his act more interesting and edgy. When Nev encounters Opal and Pearl at a Detroit open mic night, everyone assumes he’ll go for Pearl, with her more classic beauty and pristine singing voice. But Nev is immediately enchanted with Opal’s brashness, her unpredictability, and her ability to light up a room with her personality.

Almost before she can absorb the news, Opal is headed to New York City. There she encounters a vibrant, exciting world of musicians and other creatives, and embarks on an affair with the band’s drummer, Jimmy Curtis. But just as the band is on the verge of breaking out, they wind up sharing billing on a showcase concert with a Southern-fried band that likes to wave a giant Confederate flag during their performances. Opal’s fearless response results in tragedy for the band and a permanently changed course of life for both Opal and Nev.

And that’s when things get interesting, for it turns out that the (fictional) journalist who’s supposedly writing this oral history of Opal and Nev to coincide with their rumored 2016 reunion concert at a summer music festival is none other than Curtis’ daughter, S. Sunny Shelton. A reputable journalist, to be sure, she is also in search of answers about what happened to her father, and about the evocative Opal, who has always been a hero of hers. The more her research uncovers, the more personally invested she becomes in the story she’s telling. Soon her perspective is as much a part of the narrative as anyone else’s.

THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV is so many things. It’s a portrait of a rough-and-tumble, aggressively creative New York City that’s rapidly disappearing from memory; a chronicle of the intersections of music and activism in the 1970s (and the 2010s); and an exploration of how personal identity shapes what is and isn’t “acceptable” behavior --- in the music industry and, more broadly, how stories are shaped by who has the opportunity to tell them. Walton’s debut is bold, audacious and endlessly fascinating --- much like Opal Jewel herself.