First published 1998
Catherine McKenna sits at her piano, trying to compose while her infant cries in the next room. She has fought her way into the classical music world as a female composer, but now motherhood threatens to derail everything she has worked for. Her relationship with her partner grows strained under the pressure of sleepless nights and creative frustration. Catherine also carries the weight of her complicated relationship with her family back home, feeling like an outsider in multiple worlds. She must find a way to honor both her identity as an artist and her new role as a mother. The music that flows through her mind competes with the immediate demands of caring for her child. Catherine struggles to prove herself in a field where women composers remain rare, all while navigating the profound changes that new motherhood brings to every aspect of her existence.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, identity-crisis
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
284 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton Company