Pickup Notes

Playing viola in her string quartet is the only joy in Joey's life. It's the reason she can tolerate her toxic family and her day job as a tollbooth operator. But the only reason Joey isn't a "starving musician" is that peanut butter is cheap, and you can buy day-old bread for a dollar. Her quartet needs to start making money, and soon.

HARRISON: the fearless first violinist who's always driven the group.

SHREYA: the secretive second violinist who seems to have one foot out the door.

JOSH: the cellist who only now is facing up to a stutter that's kept him bound by shame.

JOEY: the violist, who broke Josh's heart and in turn had her heart broken by Harrison.

Joey has always hidden behind her music. It's better that way. No one notices the viola.

When a bride gets so drunk she forgets she hired a classical string quartet, Shreya stuns everyone by ripping off a guitar riff on her violin. Suddenly Harrison sees dollar signs in the air: they can fuse rock music with classical quartets, even if it means changing their entire repertoire.

But changing their playlist starts twisting the friendships the quartet members have formed with one another. Harrison promised that no matter what, they'd always have their music. But as the relationships begin cracking under the strain, it's going to take a lot more than promises and a new repertoire to save the quartet.

In her newest novel, Jane Lebak explores the forces that keep a sensitive person silent and how the voices around you can help unleash the song of your heart.