The Sound Between the Notes

A classical pianist, desperate to recapture her lost magic, must face the possibility of losing everything—and everyone—she treasures as she seizes an unexpected chance for redemption and acclaim.

Susannah’s career has been on hold for nearly sixteen years, ever since her son was born. An adoptee who’s never forgiven her birth mother for not putting her first, Susannah was determined to put her own child first, no matter what. But now, offered a chance at the very thing she thought she’d renounced forever, Susannah’s longing is reawakened. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the rapture. And she needs to get them back. Now.

 

Her quest—what her husband calls her obsession—turns out to have a cost Susannah didn’t anticipate. One by one, her relationships begin to disintegrate, and even her hand betrays her as she learns she has a progressive hereditary disease that’s making her fingers cramp and curl—a curse waiting in her genes, legacy of a birth family that gave her little else. As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she hasn’t been able to purge—and forward, to the country-and-western sister she’s never known.

Publication Date:  April 6, 2021

Author: Barbara Linn Probst

Description

Praise for The Sound Between the Notes:

Finalist, 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Award for Women’s Fiction
First Place Winner, CIBA Somerset Book Award
Gold Medalist, Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction
Silver Medalist, Nautilus Book Award for Fiction

“The climax, on the night of her performance, is a tour de force steeped in suspense, and Susannah’s subsequent revelations are satisfying and authentic. A sensitive, astute exploration of artistic passion, family, and perseverance.”
Kirkus Reviews

The Sound Between the Notes is so beautiful, so lyrical, so musical that it was hard to put down. . . . This is a wonderful story from a skillful writer, one that appeals strongly to the heart. It features awesome characters, a twisty plot, and gorgeous writing.”
Readers’ Favorite 5-star review

“In her second novel, Barbara Linn Probst delivers yet another powerful story, balancing lyrical language with a skillfully paced plot to build a sensory-rich world that will delight those who loved Queen of the Owls and win countless new readers. Offering a deep exploration of the search for identity and connection, The Sound Between Notes reminds us to embrace everything we are—and everything that’s made us who we are.”
—Julie Cantrell, New York Times and USA TODAY best-selling author of Perennials

“Family ties can bind or blind us—even with relatives we’ve never met. In The Sound Between the Notes, trails of music connect generations separated by adoption—while the same notes threaten a family believed sewn with steel threads.In this spellbinding novel, Barbara Linn Probst examines how the truth of love transcends genetics, even as strands of biology grip us. Once you begin this story, suffused with the majesty of music and the reveries of creation, the ‘gotta know’ will carry you all the way to the final note.”
—Randy Susan Meyers, international best-selling author of Waisted and The Comfort of Lies

“Beautifully told, The Sound Between the Notes, is the story of tragedy and triumph, of the push and pull of family, of the responsibility we feel to ourselves and those we love. Once I started the book, I couldn’t put it down until I reached the last, gorgeously written note.”
—Loretta Nyhan, author of The Other Family and Amazon best-seller Digging In

“As soaring as the music it so lovingly describes, poignantly human, and relatable to anyone who’s ever wondered if it’s too late for their dream, The Sound Between the Notes is an exploration of our vulnerability to life’s timing and chance occurrences that influence our decisions, for better or worse. Probst creates her trademark intelligent suspense as Susannah, an adoptee trying for a mid-life resurrection of an abandoned music career, confronts lifelong questions of who she is. A story that speaks to our universal need to have someone who believes in us unequivocally, and how that person had better be ourselves.”
—Ellen Notbohm, award-winning author of The River by Starlight

Praise for Queen of the Owls:

2020 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award Finalist
2020 IPPY Awards Bronze Winner in Popular Fiction
2020 Eric Hoffer Award 1st Runner up in General Fiction

“A nuanced, insightful, culturally relevant investigation of one woman’s personal and artistic awakening, Queen of the Owls limns the distance between artist and muse, creator and critic, concealment and exposure.”
—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times best-selling author of A Piece of the World and <;i>Orphan Train

“This is a stunner about the true cost of creativity, and about what it means to be really seen. Gorgeously written and so, so smart (and how can you resist any novel that has Georgia O’Keeffe in it?), Probst’s novel is a work of art in itself.”
—Caroline Leavitt, best-selling author of Pictures of You, Is This Tomorrow and Cruel Beautiful World

“Probst plumbs the depths of Elizabeth’s desperation with a delicacy that underlines the brutal truths her protagonist must face …. A thought-provoking, introspective examination of self and sexuality”
Booklist

“Readers will root for Elizabeth—and wince in amusement at her pratfalls—as she strikes out in improbable new directions . . . An entertaining, psychologically rich story of a sometimes giddy, sometimes painful awakening.”
Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Linn Probst is an award-winning author of contemporary women’s fiction living on an historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her acclaimed novels Queen of the Owls (2020) and The Sound Between the Notes (2021) were gold and silver medalists for prestigious national awards, including the Sarton and Nautilus Book Awards. The Sound Between the Notes was also selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Indie Books of 2021. Barbara has also published over fifty essays on the craft of writing for sites such as Jane Friedman and Writer Unboxed, along with two nonfiction books. Her third novel The Color of Ice will be released in October 2022. Learn more on www.BarbaraLinnProbst.com.

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