Sight Reading: A Novel

"Sight Reading: A Novel" by Kalotay, Daphne, published by Harper. For readers who loved Bel Canto, Three Junes, and The Hours...On a warm spring day after a long New England winter, Hazel and Remy spot each other for the first time in years. Under ordinary circumstances, this meeting might seem insignificant. But Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to the Scottish composer Nicholas Elko--once the love of Hazel' s life, now struggling with a masterwork he cannot realize. In the twenty years since Hazel' s world was tipped on its axis, these three artists have faced unexpected joys, mysterious afflictions and other puzzles of life, their fates irrevocably interlaced.As their story unfolds across two decades, moving from Europe to America and from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this moving novel explores how the desire to create something real and true--be it a work of art or one's own life--can lead to deeper personal revelations, including the secrets we keep, even from ourselves. Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading asks questions about what makes a family, about the importance of art and beauty in daily life, and about the role of intuition in both the creative process and the evolution of the self.Review''This entertaining novel follows a group of musicians through twenty years of disappointments and betrayals; lusts, regrets, afflictions, and delusions; rehearsals, recombinations, and revelations... and performances. Your ears will be ringing.'' (Edith Pearlman, award-winning author of Binocular Vision)“Kalotay celebrates art . . . in prose that is brisk and concise as well as sensuous andsumptuous . . . A fictive musical and familial feast.” (Booklist (starred review))“Kalotay’s soulful second novel chronicles the collateral damage three classical musicians inflict on the people who love them. Merging two inherently incompatible modes of expression, writing and music, presents a formidable challenge-one Kalotay rises to admirably here.” (Kirkus Reviews)Kalotay “takes great pains to get the little details right, both musical and geographical, and the resulting read is engaging and often insightful.... [S]urprising and satisfying...with some delightfully vivid writing.” (Boston Globe)“Set in the hothouse world of classical music, this wise, elegant novel maps the fallout from a passionate affair over the course of two decades. . . . Daphne Kalotay writes with grace and authority, paying equal attention to the artistic and emotional lives of her characters.” (Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers)“SIGHT READING is at once a compelling story about love, loss and music in four interwoven lives, and an insightful exploration of the sources and expression of creativity. The results are compulsively readable, memorable and wise.” (Nancy Richler, award-winning author of The Imposter Bride)“[Kalotay] really shines when discussing musicians making music…[and] she effectively shows us how performing artists live. Much as we ourselves do, except they then get to create something gorgeous. (Library Journal)“Kalotay writes elegantly and ably about music and emotion, drafting a moving meditation on the sacrifices made for art and the mysteries of the heart.” (Publishers Weekly)“Ms. Kalotay manages to capture the fleeting exultation that performers feel whenever they play. It is as if she has been on stage, bow in hand, ready to make or break her career with a single piece of music:.” (New York Journal of Books) From the Back CoverThe critically acclaimed author of Russian Winter turns her ''sure and suspenseful artistry'' (Boston Globe) to the lives of three colleagues and lovers in the world of classical music.On a Boston street one warm spring day, Hazel and Remy spot each other for the first time in years. Although their brief meeting may seem insignificant, behind them lie two decades in which their life paths have crisscrossed, diverged, and ultimately interlaced. Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to the composer Nicholas Elko—once the love of Hazel's life.It has been twenty years since Remy, an ambitious conservatory student; Nicholas, a wunderkind launching an international career; and his wife, the beautiful and fragile Hazel, first came together, tipping their collective world on its axis. As their story unfolds from 1987 to 2007, from Europe to America, from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, each discovers the surprising ways in which the quest to create something real and true—be it a work of art or one's own life—can lead to the most personal of revelations.Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading explores the role of art and beauty in everyday life, while unspooling a transporting story of marriage, family, and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves. Book details: published 2013. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.