Mountain Solo

September 8, 2003
Ingold (The Big Burn; The Window) offers a perceptive study of a prodigy violinist undergoing a painful transition. The story begins shortly after 16-year-old Tess is devastated by her first failure, on stage during her first major performance with a professional orchestra. As she faces an uncertain future, she reconsiders her past. She returns to her childhood home in Montana to spend time with her recently remarried father, and begins to rethink her goals and priorities. Tess's story emerges through a series of flashbacks depicting her first violin lessons as a four-year-old, her first formal recital at age nine and her experiences at a prestigious New York City school for gifted performers. Her growth as a musician is interwoven—not always smoothly—with the history of another violinist from Montana, who walked the same path that Tess follows during the hiking trip with her father, her new stepmother (an archeologist researching that violinist) and nine-year-old stepsister. While reliving the turning points in her childhood and pondering the fate of the other violinist, Tess achieves some important insights into herself, her domineering mother and the options still open to her. Tess's fears and uncertainties are convincing, but readers will be most strongly moved by her unfaltering love of music. Ages 12-up.