From Publishers Weekly
In her first novel, poet and playwright Chamberlain tells the vibrant story of Rose McGregor, a talented composer navigating academia in the early days of feminism. A temporary appointment as the token “Girl Composer” at a Minnesota college puts 25-year-old Rose on her own for the first time; the older of two New Hampshire sisters, Rose has always been the plain, responsible one, caretaker to sister Natalie, but finds her professional and personal lives blooming in the cold weather of St. Paul. She falls in love with Guy, a stonemason who wants to whisk her off to his farm, but the affair falls apart. From there, Rose joins eccentric cellist Lila Goldensohn, who has turned her country home into an all-female retreat. Living off the land without the distraction of love, Rose returns to composing until Natalie unexpectedly arrives, pregnant and in distress, to overtake Rose’s life again. Following Rose’s music career to the city, the West Coast and back again, Chamberlain makes a charming, quirky fugue of Rose’s pursuit of love, independence and success.
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Rose MacGregor, 25 years old and fresh out of graduate school in the mid-1970s, takes a temporary position as a professor in the music department at a college in St. Paul, intending to develop her skills as a composer. Headstrong yet introspective, Rose quickly becomes friends with Francis, the mousy music department secretary, and Alan, a handsome fellow professor, both of whom teach her, in their unique way, the lifestyle of academe. Soon thereafter, Rose falls into a passionate, sensual relationship with the older, pensive Guy Robbins. When the liaison with Guy crumbles, however, Rose flees from the university to an isolated farm headed by a reclusive female composer, Lila. Rose is soon joined by her younger sister Natalie, nine months pregnant and unwieldy. Upon the birth of Natalie’s daughter, Meggy, Rose’s life becomes a complex, unpredictable braid of familial, sexual, and professional relationships. Told in two parts, the narrative’s measured pace allows the reader to linger as Rose comes into her own as a composer, lover, and independent woman. --Leah Strauss
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