Browsing new fiction at my local library and this author, Jane Hamilton, jumped out. Such a good writer. And now her new book, The Phoebe Variations, proved up to her standard.
cover blurb - Seventeen year old Phoebe Hudson was never interested in her birth family. But on the cusp of her high school graduation, her adoptive mother, Greta, insists on a visit to meet her biological parents and siblings. The encounter is a jolt, a revelation that derails Phoebe.
Hamilton takes us on Phoebe's journey. She runs away to her friend Patrick's home - the Asylum. She can blend in with his thirteen siblings. This adolescent rebellion soon spirals into a whirlwind of transformation and self-discovery.
Phoebe questions everything. Is her friend Luna really looking out for her? What of Patrick's brothers? Musical prodigies and they are impressed with Phoebe's piano skills. As the variations of music calm her, the variations in her life prove to be quite a path of choices.
I really enjoyed this book. Phoebe is a strong protagonist. She is conflicted at that age and yet growing wiser by the page. The author weaves a musical theme and there are appropriate crescendos.
p. 315 phoebe reflecting back on those days: What I wanted more than anything was for a single composition of his (Bach) to exist past the end of Earth. .... Eventually note by note new creatures would begin to understand that the universal principle, the one true principle for any world, for every world, was inside the music.
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