First published 2010
Jeanette Hochmann sits at her desk, struggling with both her writing and her new reality as a divorced mother. At forty-two, she feels disconnected from the passion that once drove her as a piano prodigy and later as a novelist. She pours herself into researching Clara Schumann, the nineteenth-century German pianist, and Clara's complex relationship with Johannes Brahms, her husband's gifted student. Jeanette wants to understand whether Clara and Brahms shared only friendship or something deeper. As she digs into Clara's letters and life, Jeanette discovers striking similarities between the pianist's struggles and her own attempts to balance art, love, and motherhood. The research becomes personal as Jeanette questions her own choices about passion and security. Then an unexpected romance enters her life, forcing her to confront the same questions that plagued Clara Schumann a century earlier.
Genres: fiction, art, 20th-century, contemporary, biographical-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century, 21st-century
288 pages · Paperback · Headline Review