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Blanche’s father, who did a disappearing act when she was six, is famous, a seminal rocker who has been off finding himself for the last ten years. Blanche idealizes him and longs to have him back in her life. So, after her newly formed band is asked to play in a famous festival, she invites him to attend, inadvertently setting off an emotional bombshell. Although that’s what the plot is about, Hall’s real interest is the personal and generational interconnections between ego, talent, dreams and assumptions. These concerns are neatly dramatized through a host of characters, most notably Blanche’s recovering alcoholic mother, who stuck with her daughter and whose scaled-back aspirations are modest, and Blanche’s self-absorbed, runaway father, a legend with an oversized talent and unresolved ambitions. This is not to say that the story is in any way preachy or didactic. Despite the fact that the plot hits some dissonant notes, it’s a funny, lively performance, and Blanche, who narrates the story in the first person, is a witty, likable companion. Bravo. (Fiction. 12 & up)
