A 2021 Kirkus Reviews’ Best Indie Book of the YearThe highly anticipated new novel from the multiple award-winning author of Queen of the Owls . . .What if you had a second chance at the very thing you thought you’d renounced forever? How steep a price would you be willing to pay?Susannah’s career as a pianist has been on hold for nearly sixteen years, ever since her son was born. An adoptee … who’s never forgiven her birth mother for not putting her first, Susannah vowed to put her own child first, no matter what. And she did.But now, suddenly, she has a chance to vault into that elite tier of “chosen” musicians. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the magic that used to be hers at the keyboard. She needs to get them back. Now.Her quest—what her husband calls her obsession—turns out to have a cost Susannah couldn’t have anticipated. Even her hand betrays her, as Susannah learns that she has a progressive hereditary disease that’s making her fingers cramp and curl—a curse waiting in her genes, legacy of a birth family that gave her little else. As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she’s never been able to purge—and forward, to choices she never thought she would have to make.Told through the unique perspective of a musician, The Sound Between the Notes draws the reader deeper and deeper into the question Susannah can no longer silence: Who am I, and where do I belong?
more
Lovely tale of a woman trying to find her artistic self without losing her family
This gorgeous novel tells a thoroughly modern story—that of a woman with ambition caught in the triple-layered sandwich of an ailing parent’s needs, a husband’s static expectations, and a youngster’s emotional and practical demands. Better still, the heroine’s ambitions are artistic (she’s a classical pianist) which lends a purity to her pursuit. Her age and potential medical complications add urgency. The backstory about her adoption adds depth. The writing is so beautiful that I swear I could hear the music as I read. Page by page, I fell in love with the characters, who are so human that you feel as if they are your own friends and family. Best of all, my heart soared at ending. Highly recommended!
The Sound between the Notes by Barbara Linn Probst is beautifully-written, engrossing, and emotional journey through a woman’s search for her own identify. Throughout the novel, Susannah’s choices have dramatic effects upon her family. Adopted at birth, the protagonist Susannah, has an adoptive mother who tells her that she was a special child, chosen to be their daughter. This woman sacrifices to give her daughter the education needed to become a great classical pianist. Despite having such a loving family, Susannah once she’s off at college, journeys back to Texas to discover her roots. Eventually, she gives up that search, but when she marries and becomes pregnant, she feels she has to do better by her son. She gives up her career as a promising musician to become a full-time mother.
As her son, James grows up, Susannah feels she can return to her former profession—only to discover she is having physical difficulties with playing a piece she’s played for ages. She soon learns that she has Dupuytren’s contracture, a progressive hereditary disease that causes the fingers to contract toward the palm of the hand. With this diagnosis, she becomes a bit obsessed about her future and resumes her search for her Texas family.
The author is a musician, and her love of music pervades the book: the marvelous descriptions of not just the notes of music, but the fingering, and the way Susannah thinks of everything in terms of music.
With the compelling theme of adoption and loss, this book would be well read in the company of Surrender: A Memoir of Nature, Nurture, and Love by Marylee MacDonald. Like Susannah, Marylee was a “chosen” child, yet playing against those feelings tied up in her adoption, sixteen-year-old MacDonald deals with giving up her own child when she was sixteen.
As lyrical as a Shubert symphony, Probst’s beautiful prose and engaging story kept me glued to the page.
The Sound Between the Notes is the story of Susannah and her struggle to revive the promising career she gave up to raise her son and deal with a hereditary disease that threatens all she hopes to achieve. Barbara Linn Probst seamlessly blends music into a beautifully written story
A thought-provoking read, this well-rendered and affecting story of music, adoption, family, and forfeiture begged my examination of what constitutes a family, how our familial roles morph, and just how much sacrifice for the sake of others is enough? I highly recommend this book!
This beautiful, thoughtful novel sweeps you up from the very first chapter, as classical pianist Susannah Lewis waits alone for a life-changing audition. Moving from past to present, Susannah’s story explores choices and their consequences, nature vs. nurture, artistic passion and sacrifice, and the true meaning of family as she searches for her identity. The suspense builds with every page, but in this story the threat comes from deep within. And, oh, the music! Brava, Ms. Probst.
As soaring as the music it so lovingly describes, poignantly human, and relatable to anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s too late for their dream, The Sound Between the Notes is an exploration of our vulnerability to life’s timing and chance occurrences that influence our decisions, for better or worse. Probst creates her trademark intelligent suspense as Susannah, an adoptee trying for a mid-life resurrection of an abandoned music career, confronts lifelong questions of who she is and how far, how reckless she’ll be in pursuing both personal and professional goals that may or may not end well. A story that speaks to our universal need to have someone who believes in us unequivocally, and how that person had better be ourselves.
Middle-age woman reclaiming her creativity: not easy!
Barbara Probst is a skillful writer who artfully brings us inside the heads and hearts of women who are struggling to define themselves creatively, especially in middle age after marriage and children may have reduced their options. In The Sound Between the Notes, she introduces Susannah, a gifted pianist who attempts a comeback after years of raising a child and maintaining a marriage. Susannah faces the challenges of a possible genetic deterioration of her hands, an unsupportive husband, a teenager who needs attention, and a birth family that is not capable of helping her pinpoint the source of the genetic issue. The comeback turns on one charity concert that could make or break her future musical career, so there is much as stake.
How Susannah deals with each of these challenges in the weeks before the concert is a compelling story about how a woman reclaims her own power and faith in herself, despite the forces working against her. Her early quest to meet her birth mother and family is a gripping tale in itself, and helped me understand the heartbreaking feelings of someone who was adopted and has a contentious birth family. Susannah’s sensitivity to how changes in her fingers affect her ability to “bring forth music that didn’t exist yet” reveals the nuances of musicianship and classical music even to nonmusical readers. The tension between Susannah’s domestic life with her husband and her excitement about being a pathway for such transcendent music is so palpable that it kept me turning pages to see how she and they could or would resolve it. And to top it off, tucked into the story is a flawless glimpse of a millennial coming of age.
Probst does a masterful job of showing why Susannah makes the choices she does given her present and past, and the layers of Susannah’s feelings and experiences are deep and satisfying to read. It is particularly understandable that Susannah is frantic to protect her hands so she can keep playing the piano, bringing forth the music that makes her feel fully herself. A drama very well told.
Susannah has given up her musical career to have her son. Her son is now 16 years old and she is ready to get back to her obsession. But, as you can guess, it is not as easy as one would think. Susannah has lost her magic. And to top it all off…she has been diagnosed with a hereditary disease in her hands. It is progressive and life changing.
I enjoyed the pace of this book. It moves quickly and does not slow down for one second. I think that is because Susannah is such a wonderful character. Life has thrown her some curve balls and she is determined to find out who she is and where she belongs!
Need a book about strength and resilience…this is it! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the author for a honest opinion.
As the story opens, Susannah Lewis is attending her most important audition in fifteen years, but has not shared with her husband that she has been presented with the opportunity to perform Schubert’s B-flat major sonata at a gala fundraiser for a women’s organization. But as she plays, the fifth finger on her right hand refuses to land properly on the piano keys and sound the top notes as Susannah desires. Instead of the melody singing, her finger lands on the keys just a fraction too late and too heavily. Her piano teacher, Vera Evangelista, had urged her to audition after Susannah spent years devoted to Aaron, her husband, and only child, James, giving piano lessons, and performing in programs at local churches and schools. She hadn’t focused on what she gave up . . . until Vera’s call stirred a longing deep within her that she had worked hard to smother and forget. The timing is perfect because James is a teenage high school student, poised to be on his own soon.
Susannah gets through the audition but is troubled by the quality of her performance. And the two blister-like bumps she discovers in the center of her palm. She is devastated when her physician diagnoses her with Dupuytren’s contracture, a progressive hereditary disease that, over time, causes fingers to become bent and unresponsive. Her doctor tells her there is nothing he can do for her . . . yet. Rather, as the connective tissue begins to thicken and form cords extending from the palm into the fingers, her condition will gradually worsen, so she must wait and see how fast the disease progresses. Her condition has nothing to do with overusing her hands, practicing long hours. It is purely a genetic anomaly.
The discovery hurls Susannah into an existential crisis. She is determined to give the performance of her life at the gala because a flawless performance could open doors she thought were forever closed to her. The chance to perform with symphonies at varied venues, record, achieve critical acclaim, and share her artistic vision with audiences awaits if only she can make her hand do what she wills it to do. She has waited her whole life for this opportunity. But a specialist tells her the same thing her personal physician did.
And learning that she has inherited the condition stirs up old feelings in Susannah of unworthiness, abandonment, bewilderment. She was adopted by loving parents who wanted her and recognized her talent early on, providing her piano lessons with the best teacher. But she always felt that her biological parents discarded her, and wondered why.
Through flashbacks, Probst details Susannah’s quest to learn about her family of origin, her history, and, most importantly, why she was relinquished for adoption. Her journey is emotional and engrossing as, armed with her birth mother’s name, she travels to find her relatives and learn, among other things, if she inherited her musical talent from her mother. She waited until after she graduated from a prestigious music conservatory and moved to New York to attempt to launch her career. But chances to become a classical concert pianist are few and bills need to be paid, so Susannah worked accompanying ballet rehearsals, and performed at weddings, anniversaries, and retirement parties, threatening to destroy her touch at the keyboard in the process.
Probst’s compassion for and admiration of Susannah are evident on every page of the book. Her protagonist is endearing and sympathetic, even as she sojourns through a period of self-centeredness after years of ignoring her ambition in order to care for her family. As the date of the gala approaches, tension builds between Susannah and Aaron, in part because she becomes increasingly obsessed both with her performance and her anxiety about her hand. Aaron struggles to understand and support Susannah, who longs to “restore the glory” in her music not just for herself, but also for Aaron and James. She recalls the early days of their relationship when Aaron was enthralled with her playing, and as their relationship careens toward a breaking point, Susannah fears that her marriage could be one of the costs of resuming her career. Keeping secrets will only hasten the marriage’s demise, but Susannah is completely wrapped up in her exploration.
Probst surrounds Susannah with a fascinating group of supporting characters, including the family members she sought out, and her loving adoptive mother and father, who reveals long-held secrets that bring Susannah insight. Vera, the exacting teacher who shaped her gift, making Susannah into an exquisite musician, is mesmerizingly eccentric and opinionated.
The Sound Between the Notes is an entertaining, at times heartbreaking, and, ultimately, uplifting story about a woman who must come to terms with her past in order to claim the future she has dreamed about for many years. Probst keeps the story’s the pace moving forward at a steady pace, cleverly interspersing chapters set “then” and “now” to keep readers engaged and eager to learn about Susannah’s past in order to understand how it informs and is impacting her current-day life. Probst deftly inserts suspense, accelerating the pace as events unfold frantically, bringing everything into question. Her prose is rich, evocative, and lyrical as she describes Susannah’s inner turmoil. A musician herself, she includes musical references and analogies that readers will appreciate and relate to whether or not they are themselves musicians.
The Sound Between the Notes is an astute and moving look at a woman’s quest to balance her passion for her artistic pursuits and the needs of her family, as she defines who she is, decides what matters most to her, and explores how she can change the course of her future without losing everything that she values most.
Thanks to Book Sparks for a complimentary copy of the book.
– . . .
,
, :
, ?
THE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES by barbara_linn_probst
Her 2nd novel.
287 pgs, 28 chapters..written in 7 parts.
I liked the detailed discussion questions at the end.
” ’ . , .”
Have you ever felt guilty for putting yourself 1st?
This story is so close to my heart.
Told in two timelines, “then” & “now”..its beautifully narrated.
Its the story of a woman, who sacrifices her self, her dreams & aspirations due to her first born & for fulfilling her duties as a wife & a mom.
She herself was adopted, so she always felt an empty space, a benchmark that a mom should follow. To achieve it, she leaves no stone unturned.
But after 16 yrs, when she gets an opportunity to reignite her passion, achieve her long forgotten dreams, will her family be supportive?
Would they remind her of her duties or let her go?
To add to her woes, fate tests her vigor & zeal when she faces a hereditary disease which literally blows the air out of her.
Read to know more!
;
1. ’ : .
2. – (1980 1988), .
It’s as realistic, as a story could possibly be.
Synopsis:
What if you had a second chance at the very thing you thought you’d renounced forever? How steep a price would you be willing to pay?
Susannah’s career as a pianist has been on hold for nearly sixteen years, ever since her son was born. An adoptee who’s never forgiven her birth mother for not putting her first, Susannah vowed to put her own child first, no matter what. And she did.
But now, suddenly, she has a chance to vault into that elite tier of “chosen” musicians. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the magic that used to be hers at the keyboard. She needs to get them back. Now.
Her quest—what her husband calls her obsession—turns out to have a cost Susannah couldn’t have anticipated. Even her hand betrays her, as Susannah learns that she has a progressive hereditary disease that’s making her fingers cramp and curl—a curse waiting in her genes, legacy of a birth family that gave her little else. As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she’s never been able to purge—and forward, to choices she never thought she would have to make.
Told through the unique perspective of a musician, The Sound Between the Notes draws the reader deeper and deeper into the question Susannah can no longer silence: Who am I, and where do I belong?
Obviously the notes have to be right. But they’re just a path to the music.”~from The Sound Between the Notes by Barbara Linn Probst
Schubert knew he was dying when he wrote his B-flat major sonata. The piece was going to be Susannah’s reentry into her lapsed career as a concert pianist. Her early gift had been set aside when she became a wife and mother. Now it was time to put music a priority in her life. Especially as there was a chance of being on a CD of composers who had died young.
But Susannah’s little finger was not as responsive as it should be and a doctor delivered the horrible news: she had Dupuytren’s contracture, and no one could predict how quickly it would progress or how severe it would become. There was no cure, and few treatments available.
Susannah would not to listen to the doctors, or her husband, and merely wait and see what developed. She would do everything to make her comeback a success and to prevent another sidelining of her career. Misha Dichter had overcome Dupuytren’s. So would she.
I loved how the story is filled with music, composers, and the stories of the challenges they faced. I remember hearing some in concert, like Alicia de Larrocha and Vladamir Horowitz. The author is a serious amateur pianist and understands what she is writing about, and it shows. Susannah’s search for just the right piano with the right touch struck home; I always had a challenge when I played a piano not my own.
When Susannah met her future husband Aaron he bonded with her father over Thomas Kuhn. I loved this reference! I had read Kuhn’s book Structure of Scientific Revolutions in a Poly Sci class in my early college career.
Now, Susannah’s father is losing his memory and will need to find Assisted Living soon. With her dad, preparing for her upcoming concert, her teenage son going his own way, and her husband trusting her to take care of all the domestic duties she had always been responsible for, the stress is building.
Aaron was the logical thinker, the scientist. Susannah was the creative one, the one who could speak through music. They had always relied on each other’s strengths to balance. Now, by not listening to her husband’s advice, a wedge had appeared between them. She had broken the unspoken contract; would their marriage survive it?
The Sound Between the Notes has great depth into human nature and family connections, including Susannah’s feelings and relationships with her adoptive parents and biological family. The climax is dramatic and the resolution satisfying. Readers of women’s fiction will enjoy this novel. Many of us will recognize the challenges of how changing marital roles require a paradigm shift that some couples overcome and others can not.
I previous read the author’s novel The Queen of the Owls.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Barbara Linn Probst delivers a novel that tugged at my heart strings so often I could imagine the sound of music coming from my soul as I read.
Her reverence for women is remarkable!
While taking a break from reading, I would close my eyes, and visualize piano strings in movement, actually being able to touch “The Sound Between the Notes”.
Her message was delivered.
My heart in cadence with the life of Susannah.
This book felt personal to me, I dare a woman not to find herself somewhere.
I admire the melodious nature in which Probst shares this story.
Exceptional!
She treats a woman’s life in an amazingly ceremonious manner, no matter what part of the story she is telling.
In this, I learn that my life is always extraordinary. “I am woman, here me roar”!
Probst teaches us lessons!
While there are piercing moments there are soft edges, too. “The Sound Between the Notes” is truly an inspired work.
As we dig deeper into Susannah’s life, I realize that her life is like that of a piano chord. A chord is the combination of two or more notes played simultaneously.
This was her life’s struggle…wanting to hit that chord in her real life!
Hit two or more things at once successfully and make it sound and feel like wonder!!! She just wanted everything to work, and never feel neglect.
You must read this to learn the sound of her song. I bet you will learn a little bit more about yours.
I love a book that lives in you and moves your spirit. This is it!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
This was a profound soul-touching novel that I was instantly invested in and unable to put down. Phenomenal writing with the family trials and tribulations, with music weaved into this beautiful novel.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Barbara Linn Probst, the author of “The Sound Between the Notes” has written an intriguing and memorable novel. I appreciate that the author has written a novel about the rhythm, balance, timbre, and feelings about life. Barbara Linn Probst also writes about nature vs. nature. The author is an amazing writer, who vividly describes the characters, events, and settings in the story. The genres for this story are literary fiction, women’s fiction, domestic fiction, and fiction. The author describes her dramatic characters as complex and complicated. Music sets the stage for this story.
The protagonist of this story, Susannah has set aside her passion and career of playing the piano, to be a wife and mother. As her son gets older, Susannah is given the opportunity to embrace a career as a pianist. When Susannah is auditioning, she “feels” something is off a few times with the notes she plays. She compensates the best that she can and is offered the chance to take a position. Susannah notices two small bumps in her hand, that don’t hurt her, but she does go to the doctor.
Susannah finds out that the small bumps are part of a genetic, inherited disease that possibly would make playing the piano difficult. When Susannah researches the disease and looks for cures, she becomes even more obsessed. Susannah is adopted and searches for her birth family to seek answers.
As Susannah tries to balance and practice the piano, she starts forgetting important everyday routines that her family expects her to do. Susannah searches to find herself. I would recommend this well-written, emotional, and thought-provoking novel for other readers.
If you are looking for an emotional, beautifully chiseled novel, by a truly talented author, look no further than that of The Sound Between The Notes. Probst has woven a story that will grip you from the start, take you on a whirlwind ride, and deliver you an ending that will make you ready for her next novel.
I loved reading Susannah’s story, as she journeyed through life, trying to find out who she truly was meant to be. I loved the way Probst entwined the powerful messages of adoption and family into the story. As someone who has a biological sister somewhere out there, I truly felt the emotions of the adoption aspect, for sure!
This beautiful story brings the reader unforgettable characters, an emotionally moving plot line, makes you reflect on your life and the choices you’ve made. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this one and I look forward to more books just like this one from this amazingly talented author!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Author/Publisher and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*
The Sound Between the Notes is Probst’s second novel. It’s framed around a middle-aged woman, who gave up her career as a concert pianist to raise a family, and now has a second-chance at a prestigious concert, only to find a hereditary disease affecting her hand which may not only rob her of the chance but brings up painful memories of the birth mother who gave her up for adoption and a sister she never knew she had. Women’s fiction at its most lyrical and poignant. Highly recommended if you love beautifully-written prose that explores a women’s deepest fears and longing, both for a family to belong to but also fulfillment of her own strong need to express herself through her work.
The Sound Between the Notes starts out a bit slow, but trust me, the story gains momentum quickly and it’s soon hard to put down. Susannah, the protagonist, a child protégé who gives up a classical pianist career to be a full-time mother to her son, who is almost 16 in the novel. She believes he doesn’t need her as much as he once did. (Having raised three children through their teen years, that philosophy is my first red flag.) Anxious with her pulse sky rocketing, Susannah plays Schubert’s B-flat sonata as she auditions in Manhattan for a chance to return to the professional stage. Susannah worries about hitting one note incorrectly during her audition, though no one seems to notice.
Susannah’s lack of coordination with one finger, dropping things when her grip weakens quickly becomes an obsession. Her family doctor’s diagnoses of Dupuytren’s contracture – a progressive hereditary disease that causes the fingers over time to become bent and unresponsive. (A nightmare diagnosis for a professional pianist.) A couple weeks later she receives word that she won the audition. She accepts the honor for the one woman 45-minute concert performance as the professional classical music world opens for her. And the tension increases with every page.
Her doctor wants to know if there is a family history of the disease. As an adoptee she does not know her family health history. She fears the disease will progress rapidly and ruin her ability to play complicated classical piano music.
I liked the way the author built the novel; chapters are organized as NOW and THEN. NOW were her obsessive searches to find a treatment to prevent the Dupuytren’s contracture disease from destroying her ability to play piano professionally. Her obsessions cause a fracture in her relationship with her scientist husband. And her ability to tune out signs of trouble with her teenage son, like the pervasive smells of marijuana and beer as he turns disrespectful, coming home past curfew. The poignant visits with her widowed adoptive father as he slips further into dementia. THEN when she reminisces about her childhood as the chosen one with her adoptive parents. The tension continues to escalate when as a young adult she travels to Texas in search for her biological parents. And as adult when she continues the search trying to find a link for her inherited disease.
There are six parts to the story. Each part has a ‘subtitle’ quote from a famous musician.
A few of my favorite examples:
Part One – “Do not take up music unless you would rather die than not do so.” Nadia Boulanger, renowned composer, conductor and teacher.
Part Two – “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein
Part Three – “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (I think this one may have been the inspiration for the title of the novel, ‘The Sound Between the Notes’.)
This book is unlike any other book I’ve read. The story flows seamlessly with plot surprises and well-developed unforgettable characters. It will appeal to musicians, adoptees, adoptive parents and those who give children up for adoption, as well as any dual career couple, parents of teenagers or anyone with a family member dealing with memory problems.
*This review was first posted on StoryCircle.org.
This is my second book by Barbara Linn Probst and won’t be my last. As long as she writes such beautiful books I will continue to read them.
This is a beautiful story with a lot of feelings involved. A family who are almost perfect. Susannah, Aaron, and James. Mom, dad, and son. Susannah was a piano player who had given up her dream to be a mother. She wanted to be the best mother possible and thought being home full time was the way to do that. She devoted her young life to her husband and son. When she’s offered a chance to play again she takes it. Her son is almost sixteen and she wants this so bad. Little does she know what lies ahead for her.
This book has a lot going on as most of the books I read does. It’s about adoption and all that goes with that. Finding a birth mother. Finding out you have siblings and other family. Taking you away in ways from the parents who raised you. Who loved you completely. I really liked learning about Susannah’s other family. I didn’t like them very much though. I also didn’t like her mother very much. The one who raised her. She was a bit to controlling for me. I loved her dad. He seemed so sincere and like a good man. I also was angry at Aaron through a lot of this book. But I also understand his view on things. I think Susannah was a bit selfish in some ways. I think she finally was getting what she wanted and nothing was going to stand in her way. Nothing. James was just a typical teen.
This book has such a good storyline. It’s told in a way that you truly feel each character. You feel their pain, happiness, fears, selfishness and likes. You will feel like you belong with them. I could feel Susannah’s fear when she found out something was possibly wrong that could interfere with her musical career. The fact that her and Aaron seemed to be in opposite corners was flooring. They seemed to be so together. That part I didn’t like at all. But it made the story more interesting and made you wonder if he was hiding something.
This is a beautifully written story. It’s about a family. Two families at times. About a chance to play again. To be the pianist that you always wanted to be. To dream and dream big. A chance.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #BarbaraLinnProbst, #SheWritesPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.
5/5 stars and a high recommendation. You will love how this book plays out. It’s truly beautiful.
The thing that struck me most about this novel was that it might have been written by a classical concert pianist – the knowledge of music, the understanding of the way music is played to express what the composer intended, seemed completely authentic. The book isn’t primarily about music, though it acts as a metaphor throughout the novel. It’s about motherhood, mothers and daughters, a woman’s identity, and her quest to find out who she is, in more ways than one. Some of these are familiar tropes, but they’re handled in a completely new way here. The pacing is wonderful, and kept me up reading long past my bedtime. This would make a great book club read, with plenty to discuss and a list of questions to get groups started. I imagine the author would be happy to join your group if you decide to read it. Can’t hurt to ask!