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
The Sound Between the Notes is a beautifully written heart warming story about a classical pianist who puts her career on hold in search of a better life for herself and her family. After 16 years away from performing an opportunity presents to return to her piano. During this process her devotion to her career requires more attention and she later faces a life changing crisis that threatens all she has worked for. This well written story is like a piece of classical music, with each beautiful word being like the notes placed together to make a distinctive sound! Probst writes with such detail you will be engrossed from start to finish. I highly recommend this beautiful book!
Thank you NetGalley for this delightful ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is not a favorite. I found the main character, Susannah, too self-absorbed, relentless and stubborn when it came to pursuing her goals of finding her birth mother and of restarting her concert career. I can understand her motives but not at the expense of the other relationships in her life.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Solid Story, Could Have Used Better Structure. This was a solid story of a woman trying to find herself after putting her career on pause to raise her kid and give him a life she had never had. For me, though, the structure of the storytelling itself would have dramatically benefited from a slight variation of the technique here. Here, we get a mostly dual timeline story, a bit scattered at times (date stamps alone would have been useful in that regard, even if just “x years ago”) but workable. What *really* could have elevated this story though would have been to take a page from another tale of another professional struggling to find his way and looking back on his life – Billy Chapel in the *movie* version of For Love Of The Game. (We shall not speak of the book – one of very few cases where the movie is by far the superior story.) There, the story is told in the same dual timeline approach that we get here – but with *both* timelines happening before the seminal event (in that case, the last game Billy Chapel will ever pitch as a professional baseball player, in this case an important concert), then some follow-up after the event itself. Ultimately just a tweak, though a significant one, that would have made the story flow so much better for at least this reader. Still, truly a worthy read and very much recommended.
t’s difficult to describe this book beyond saying that it was one of the most beautifully written novels that I’ve read in a long time. I don’t know anything about music or piano but I feel like the words in this novel were like the notes in a piece of music – each word and note carefully put together to create a work of art.
Also, I did gain some appreciation for classical music because after finishing this book, I listened to many of the pieces of music that were mentioned. I have long avoided classical music and after listening to the pieces mentioned in this book – I have no idea why I’ve avoided it — it was beautiful.
Susannah quit her career as a pianist 16 years earlier when her son was born. She knew that she couldn’t handle the difficult programs and contests and give her son the love and time that she felt he needed. She was an adoptee who was consumed with finding her birth family even though she had wonderful parents who adopted her as a baby. Still she felt that she’d been thrown away by her birth family and she wanted to make sure that her son never had the same feelings
Suddenly, she has the chance to audition for a charity function which would vault her back to a prestigious status. But she feels like she’s lost some of the magic that she used to possess and strives to find it again. She finds out that she a a degenerative hereditary disease that makes her fingers cramp and is obsessed in finding a treatment. Will she be successful at her music while she tries to balance the needs of her husband and son?
This second book by Barbara Linn Probst shows again how fantastically she writes strong women characters who are successful in navigating the problems in their lives.
The Sound Between Notes reads like a piece of music—ebbing and flowing, quiet and loud, feeling each word as if it were a note I could feel physically and emotionally. Susannah is many things to many people: a wife and mother, a daughter, a protégée, and a gifted pianist whose second chance at a career could be derailed by a devastating condition. She is an adoptee who still struggles with feeling unwanted, impacting all facets of her life. Susannah was equal parts fascinating and frustrating to me: I truly wanted to hug away her pain, at the same time I wanted to yell at her to pay attention to what was happening to the people around her! But like Dorothy in Oz, Susannah had to figure it out herself, so that she could find her identity, and the path to her future, while maintaining her connection to those she loves most. Her journey is riveting and poignant, and I wanted to turn pages rapidly to see how it would turn out. But I had to slow down and savor the beautiful words and sentiments that were so wise and profound. The emotions in this book are raw and honest, powerful and passionate. Brava!
THE SOUND BETWEEN THE NOTES by Barbara Linn Probst is an emotional and heartfelt novel that kept me engrossed from beginning to end. It is a beautifully-written story of a woman’s sacrifices for her family and her journey to self-discovery. Susannah is a gifted classical pianist who set aside her promising career as a professional musician sixteen years ago upon the birth of her son, James. She has willingly put the needs of her husband and child ahead of her own all this time. Being an adoptee, she has never forgotten what it’s like to feel unwanted by your mother and she vows to do better for James. An unexpected call from her former piano teacher and mentor gives her a chance to audition for an opportunity open to only the most elite musicians. She becomes obsessed with returning to the stage. But while preparing for her audition, Susannah learns she has a progressive hereditary disease called Dupuytren’s contracture that can cause the fingers to bend over toward the palm. To better understand the devastating diagnosis, she becomes desperate to find members of her birth family, but doing so could risk everything important to her. Her choices have a dramatic effect on her family and career. This is a multi-layered story with complex characters. I enjoyed the musical theme woven throughout and insight into the worlds of classical and country music. The themes of family and adoption are also quite compelling. I enjoyed this thought-provoking book and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author for providing me with an early copy to read and review.
The title of this book is profound and thought-provoking. I never thought about expressing the feeling this way. When we listen to a good piece of music, it doesn’t matter what genre, we all interpret it differently depending on who we are, our life experiences, our mood at the moment. The Sound Between the Notes embodies this concept as a metaphor for the questions we all have about our lives at one time or another. Why are we who we are? Why do we feel as we do from one moment to the next? What is, and should be, the most important part of our lives? The story in this book is multi-faceted. A wife and mother is trying to find herself in her music, something that has always sustained her, but that she has set aside in order to raise her son. Barbara Linn Probst writes in layers, much like the music that weaves it’s way through the book in lilting tones and thunderous crescendos. As you take this journey through Susannah’s discoveries, you will find yourself discovering things about yourself too. And maybe understanding a little bit about why those around you act in ways that baffle you. This is a beautiful story, but it can be scary and emotional in places. An absorbing read that I couldn’t put down. Thank you to Ms. Probst for my copy of this remarkable book. It’s easy to recommend.