Five-Part Invention

by Andrea J. Buchanan Narrated by Elizabeth Wiley, Jayme Mattler, Susan Hanfield, Jackie Meloche, Jane Oppenheimer

Overview

When Lise, a pianist, suffers a nervous breakdown early in her marriage, her husband, in a warped act of protection and jealousy, has her piano taken away. With prose that is precise and emotionally affecting, Andrea J. Buchanan vividly renders how Lise's separation from her one source of expression and fulfillment cascades into her relationship with her daughter, leaving a legacy of trauma that echoes through the generations to come. Characters emerge broken and passionate, jagged, and yet hopeful and emotionally resonant, written in a way that only Buchanan, herself a conservatory-trained pianist, could achieve. Spanning five generations of women, Five-Part Invention wrestles with the question-if trauma echoes through generations, can love echo too? Is the love we transmit enough to undo the trauma of the past that we unwittingly carry with us and often re-enact in the present? By turns frightening and exquisitely observed, Five-Part Invention establishes Buchanan as a literary force.

Editorial Reviews

SEPTEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Buchanan’s debut novel unfolds like a symphony as it examines the impact of trauma on five generations of women. Five talented narrators breathe life into these complicated survivors. Elizabeth Wiley, as Lise, the matriarch, has an immigrant’s accent as she reveals her traumatic truth to her adult daughter, Anna, through a letter that weaves through the stories of her descendants. Susan Hanfield’s Anna mourns the mothering she missed in her childhood while mothering Pauline, the girl she is raising as her own. Jane Oppenheimer portrays Pauline’s neediness as she struggles to feel connected. Jayme Mattler spotlights Hope's curiosity and insightfulness as she spends spring break with the grandfather she never knew. Jackie Meloche delivers Zoey's self-acceptance as love triumphs over trauma. N.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175557184
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	06/30/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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