Synopses & Reviews
At seventeen, Clara Lorenzo seems to have everything--brains, beauty, and an extraordinary talent for the piano. Her parents have provided her with the finest teacher and rearranged their lives to nurture Clara's genius, and Clara has worked hard--to the point of obsession--to develop her talent. But Clara's many gifts and her obsessive practicing have hidden the truth, a truth so startling that it takes an important piano competition, the confusions of first love, and a mysterious Russian folktale for Clara to begin to understand. By the time she fully sees her predicament, events have taken on a powerful momentum of their own. Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award, Broken Chords is a romance acted out in the highly charged world of an internationally renowned piano competition. Told with suspense, artistry, and an appreciation of the ever-tightening pressures that hold Clara captive, Barbara Snow Gilbert weaves the themes of self-awareness, family bonds, and courage in a classic coming-of-age story that is as lyrical as the music at its heart.
Review
"A compassionate work." --Kirkus Reviews
Review
"The strength of the novel lies . . . in the heroine's in-depth exploration of what she truly wants for herself." --Publishers Weekly
Review
"Characterization is strong, with even the relatively minor characters. . . . Gilbert communicates the joy and style of the piano playing." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Synopsis
While practicing relentlessly for an important competition, seventeen-year-old Clara wonders if she has the dedication to pursue a career as a concert pianist. Reissue.
About the Author
Barbara Snow Gilbert is an attorney, mediator, andan award-winning author. As a political science major with a minor in art history, Ms. Gilbert studied in Florence, London, and Washington, D.C., and graduated with a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Colorado College. She worked on various political staffs, including that of the Speaker of the House of the U.S. Representatives and the Governor of Oklahoma, then attended law school and received her Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of Texas. Ms. Gilbert is married and has two daughters. She is a lifetime student of the piano, which she studied in the University of Michigan Division of Interlochen National Music Camp, and at Colorado College. She is fourth generation Oklahoman on both sides of her family tree, and proudly claims her heritage back to territorial days. Ms. Gilbert lives in Oklahoma City. She writes of Stone Water, "I did not write this book to take a stand on the issue of assisted suicide; I wrote this book to tell a story."