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"Courage is the theme of most
coming-of-age stories, but the arena is usually war . . .
not, as in Paula Huston’s first novel, a classical
conservatory in Baltimore where a 20-year-old piano
student named Sylvia is wrestling with Beethoven’s last
sonata, Opus 111. Yet Daughters of Song is at least
as exciting a read as any masculine version, despite a
near absence of blood and no bullets at all—largely
because Huston has created in Sylvia as winning a heroine
as American fiction has seen for years. . . . Huston’s
prose is rich, sensuous, alive. In a hard-boiled age, she
dares to write openly about the emotions [and]
persuasively renders the hothouse atmosphere of the
conservatory, its friendships and its rivalries."—Los
Angeles Times.
"A risky, ambitious work about the relationship of
art to life . . . [Huston] obviously knows her way around
the world of music . . . . her writing can make the
musically illiterate among her readers almost believe they
can read the notes on the page . . . . She writes . . .
with an uncommon blend of empathy and curiosity,
confronting the cool, detached structure of classical
music with the internal emotions of the music’s
performers. Despite the fact that Daughters of Song
is passionate and personal, . . . Huston cares equally for
the music of the interwoven lives of her characters and
the compressed beauty of the great works they struggle to
understand."—Salt Lake Tribune.
"An extraordinary first novel . . . .The miracle
of Daughters is that the intricate discussions of
music, whether technical or philosophical, as well as the
psychological insight into musicians, ring true. The
discussions of musical passages, whether Beethoven,
Schumann or Chopin, mirror the considerations a pianist
must give to the right playing of a particular work."—Santa
Barbara News Press.
"In this lyrical, completely enthralling debut
novel, Huston celebrates the maturing of a naďve and
sheltered young pianist into a self-possessed woman to
whom the mysteries of love, friendship, and betrayal are
revealed. Huston’s novel is imbued with a passionate
resonance. . . .
A stunning debut, filled with distinctive
characters."—Booklist
"This debut novel is remarkable not only for its
rich characterization, but also for its authentic
introduction to the world of classical music and the lives
of those who create it."—Orange Country Metro.
"A lyrical first novel in which a young woman
triumphantly masters Beethoven’s difficult Opus 111—and
along the way learns as much about life and love as about
music . . . . Often superb writing about music—its
making, its teaching, and its inexorable hold on both the
young and old. A promising debut."—Kirkus
Reviews.
"With an open, breezy style reminiscent of Kate
Chopin’s, this first novel, set in Baltimore, tells the
story of a young woman who knows she must develop strong
wings in order to fly against the winds of
tradition."—Publishers Weekly
"Paula Huston’s first novel . . . has about it
an air of touching innocence . . . not a sign of the
author’s inexperience, but rather testimony to her skill
in evoking the heart and mind of a shy young piano student
. . . Huston deftly and believably juxtaposes the
experiences of young and old, the gifted and destitute, to
create an affecting collage of city life. [She] enables
the reader to re-enter the vulnerable, yet privileged
state of soul where everything that happens seems to
matter too much."—The Christian Science Monitor
("Novelist’s Debut")
"Daughters of Song is as intricate and
beautiful as your best memories of Mozart or Beethoven.
Paula Huston has given us a gorgeous novel."—William
Kittredge, author of We Are Not In This Together.
"Paula Huston, friends, is the real deal—a
writer unafraid of the grave consequences of passion and
sentiment; a storyteller eager to tell us about the
half-blessed citizens her characters are; an artist
dedicated to the spooky truths found in fiction. Like
music from high heaven itself, Daughters of Song is
a novel as beguiling as it is breathtaking, a book you’ll
want to stand up and applaud for after its last clear,
beautiful and perfect note."—Lee K. Abbot, author
of Dreams of Distant Lives and Strangers in
Paradise.
"Daughters of Song is an affecting,
beautifully written novel . . . . a wise, hope-filled,
heartening book. I loved it."—Ron Hansen, author of
Mariette in Ecstasy.
"Over and over again in Paula Huston’s novel,
the deeply-felt specific moment of experience rings a bell
. . . and when that happens, your spine tingles. Few
novelists use music with such authenticity to complement
the narrative and even help define the characters
themselves . . . who are also superbly drawn. .The music
hovers, explains, educates. . . a novel of event and scene
so gripping that readers will stay up all night to finish
it."—Radio Station KDB-93.7/FM
("Encore")
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