Read With Us: The Music of What Might Have Been

Some melodies stay with us long after the music stops. So do the people, passions, and choices that once seemed certain to shape our lives. In Partita, Barbara Kingsolver explores what happens when the past, long set aside, suddenly demands to be heard again.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver takes us into the life of Livia Cable, a woman who has settled into marriage and a comfortable existence in the farm country where she grew up. But a phone call from a man she once loved threatens to unsettle the life she has carefully built. Decades earlier, Livia Bohusz was a gifted young pianist, a conservatory student with extraordinary promise, a complicated family history, and a passion for music. Now, faced with the possibility of seeing her former lover again, she must revisit the experiences and attachments that changed the course of her life. The decision is about more than whether to see him; it means confronting the past and reconsidering the choices that brought her to the life she now leads.

Moving between past and present, Kingsolver structures Livia's memories around musical pieces, exploring the connections between art and life, ambition and sacrifice, love and loss. Along the way, she considers the barriers of class, the risks of pursuing one's dreams, and the ways our earliest experiences can shape the people we become.

Kingsolver is a wonderful storyteller, and Partita promises the kind of richly layered, emotionally engaging novel that gives readers plenty to think about and discuss. It's a story about the choices we make, the paths we leave behind, and the parts of ourselves that may never quite be forgotten.

Kym, Carole, and I will be talking about the book, giving additional information, and doing promotional posts throughout November. Discussion day for Partita is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, 2027 at 7:00 pm Eastern time, so mark your calendars. We'll ask questions on our blogs that day and then host the always educational and illuminating Zoom discussion. Bring your thoughts, your questions, and your willingness to look at a story from more than one perspective. As always, there are no right or wrong answers, just a good book and good conversation. We hope you'll Read With Us!

You can also listen with us. This is Seong-Jin Cho playing Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit: I. Ondine. Livia chooses Gaspard de la nuit, a famously difficult three-movement work, as a technical challenge and a way to prove herself. It mirrors the intense, obsessive phase of her life when she falls in love with Sigurd.