In a strikingly beautiful scene, Tessie, not yet six, hears a Mozart symphony she’s never heard before, transcribes it into colors in her head, crayons it onto page after page, and is then able to play it on her violin. The limits and benefits of being raised as a prodigy color her life until she is 16, when she freezes and plays poorly in a high-profile solo concert. Back in Montana with her calm father, Tess reacquaints herself with the land she grew up on and gets to know her new stepmother and adoring stepsister. Another story about a violin, in alternating chapters, features a teenager named Frederick who lived on nearby Montana land several generations earlier. Frederick’s story is less compelling than Tess’s, and Tess’s narrow-minded, ambitious mother is written too simply, but Tess’s passion and struggle for her music sing melody, harmony, and detail. (Fiction. YA)
