An emotional story set to the music of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin.
A talented teenage musician explores romance, faith, and music in Philbrick’s (Everbloom, 2017, etc.) coming-of-age novel.
Clive Serkin is a 17-year-old piano prodigy and the son of Claude Serkin, the conductor of the Chicago Philharmonic. He’s bored with his “old, gray-haired, Bach obsessed piano teacher,” Saul Koussevitsky, so he begins taking lessons in secret with middle-aged, world-renowned pianist Clare Cardiff. She recently put her fast-paced, concert-driven life on hold and moved to Chicago after her abusive husband, Nero Cardiff, announced that he wanted them to take a break. As Clive’s romantic feelings for Clare grow, she begins to see him as the son she never had. His already excellent musicianship improves enough to gain him admittance to the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Russia. All the while, Clare grapples with memory lapses, and she’s later diagnosed with early-onset dementia. The diagnosis forces Clare to move back in with Nero, and Clive is left to perform in Moscow without his beloved teacher. Although the story begins with a familiar storyline—a talented child pushed too far by a parent’s dream—Philbrick, in clear prose, builds a story that breaks that mold. It does so with rich music history (including mentions of Clara and Robert Schumann’s relationship), nuanced characters (Nero uses his pottery skills to sculpt a child that he and Clare never had), religious themes, and a website that readers may visit to listen to specific pieces mentioned in the book. Clive and Clare’s “Love born on a bench” is delicately constructed; the two don’t do anything more than hold hands, but their intimacy is strong: “Clive drew close to her with romanticized desire. Her hand fit seamlessly in his as the black piano keys agree with the white ones.” Some scenes discussing religion feel preachy, but most add depth to the story and characters. In one scene, for example, Clare’s sister, Bethany, tells her, “All our lives have transcendent value”—and to Clare, that value is her music.
An emotional story set to the music of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin.Pub Date: May 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-938467-99-8
Page Count: 245
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...
Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.
Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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