Musical Chairs

February 1, 2020

Award-winning Métis author Dimaline makes her debut with an American publisher, Empire of Wild, the edgy story of Joan, heard fighting vituperatively with her now missing husband, who believes she spots him posing as a charismatic preacher in a battered revival tent (75,000-copy first printing). The youngest winner ever of Italy's prestigious Premio Strega, Giordano (The Solitude of Prime Numbers) returns with Heaven and Earth to limn the enduring bonds linking Teresa to three young men she meets one summer in Puglia, her father's childhood home. From debuter Mackenzie, a Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner, One Year of Ugly (60,000-copy first printing) takes a humorous approach to recount the travails of a Venezuelan family living illegally in Trinidad. A best-selling author in mass market, McKinlay moves into trade paperback original with Paris Is Always a Good Idea, the story.` of a young woman who revisits her gap year in Ireland, France, and Italy, looking for lost loves but finding something different. In the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Macomber's A Walk Along the Beach, shy Willa--especially close to sister Harper after their mother's death--is ready to follow Harper's advice about risking love until tragedy befalls Harper. Martin returns after his high-flying debut, Early Work, with the story collection Cool for America about the gap between what people want and what they achieve. Winner of the Terry Southern Prize, Nugent shows us all the stumbling antics of near-adults in Fraternity. In Poeppel's Musical Chairs, Bridget and Will hatch a plan to lure shining-star violinist Gavin Glantz back to their Forsyth Trio, which they founded together as Juilliard students, even as Bridget wrestles with multiple family complications (40,000-copy first printing).

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Starred review from May 15, 2020
Now that her adult children are safely ensconced in their lives, a Manhattan cello player has a summer of romance planned at her Connecticut weekend home with her boyfriend. It does not work out as planned. Bridget Stratton, daughter of globally renowned conductor Edward Stratton, is an excellent musician in her own right. She is also a single mother to two grown children, twins Isabelle and Oscar, and sister to Gwen, the well-known host of a Netflix series. With her children busy with their own careers, she has a relaxing summer in rural Connecticut planned with her boyfriend. But instead, both her children show up with different crises, much to her surprise, and her boyfriend breaks up with her--gently, politely--via email. Her embarrassment runs deep. Will, her long-term friend and partner in the chamber music trio they created three decades prior, comes from Manhattan to Connecticut to be a shoulder to lean on and, while visiting, falls for a local woman. On one level, this is a story of deep friendship between Bridget and Will. It is also a story of motherhood, of daughterhood, and of sisterhood--when to help, when to let go, and when to celebrate. It is also a story of fixing up a house. A story of music. A story of aging. A story of being scared to change and yet still wanting to. And a story of falling in love. There is a large cast of characters, but they are all distinct individuals with their own personalities and voices who work together seamlessly in the novel as both soloists and supporting characters. Author Poeppel has created a story that is well thought out, well plotted, well written, and fully developed. A delightful novel that celebrates the messiness and joy to be found in real life.

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July 1, 2020
Cellist Bridget and pianist Will are about to bring a new violinist into the Forsyth Trio, but first they need to survive the summer. Bridget decamps to Connecticut to spend some time with her novelist boyfriend, but he breaks up with her via email, leaving her alone in a house that is literally falling apart around her. Soon, unexpected company arrives: her daughter, Isabelle, who has quit her lucrative job, and her son, Oscar, who suspects that his husband is cheating. Next comes the news that her 90-year-old father, a legendary orchestral conductor, is planning to remarry. Then Will shows up for his usual visit, where he falls in love with a woman who is as committed to country life as he is to city life. These ingredients lead to a charming comedy of errors full of unexpected revelations and unusual events. Poeppel's (Limelight, 2018) lighthearted family story casts a thoughtful eye on the intricacies of relationships while exploring the intersection of art and life. Readers of upmarket ensemble fiction with a dash of humor, � la Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney or Emma Straub, will enjoy Poeppel's latest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 27, 2020
Poeppel (Small Admissions) charms with this witty small-town story. Cellist Bridget Stratton’s original plan to spend a carefree summer with her boyfriend at her dilapidated Connecticut country house is blown to pieces when her boyfriend breaks up with her via email, her 20-something twin children land on her doorstep, and her father, a famous, elderly orchestra conductor, announces he’s getting married. Luckily she has Will, her longtime best friend, with whom she founded her chamber group, the Forsythe Trio, at Juilliard, which is still active decades later despite the loss early on of the original violinist, Gavin Glantz. The group’s effort to court a new member causes friction, while Bridget continues to wonder if the twins’ father is her sperm donor or Gavin, whom she slept with the night before she was artificially inseminated. Poeppel’s characters leap off the page, and as the plot bubbles along, the lingering question of the twins’ parentage is answered, and a rather unexpected solution is found for the Trio’s problems. Comedic relief is provided by an errant herd of sheep, a feisty parrot named Ronaldo, and the epically awful wedding-wear presented to Bridget for her father’s wedding. Poeppel’s whimsical tale offers plenty of surprises. Agent: Linda Chester, Linda Chester Literary.