Partita - Large Print by Barbara Kingsolver (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK

"Kingsolver's magnificent Partita sings in the key of passion, yearning, and loss." -- The Boston Globe

"A lush and wrenching narrative about the paths not taken, the ingenuity of music and human decency." -- New York Times ("Ten New Books We Recommend This Week")

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Demon Copperhead, a story of a brief, passionate, life-changing love affair, wrapped up in what might be the greatest romance of all: our eternal human longing for art and beauty.

Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she's kept at bay for a lifetime.

Shifting between past and present, Livia's decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life.

With razor-sharp acuity and deep affection, Kingsolver's unforgettable new novel reflects on class barriers, the risks of ambition, and the timeless, life-changing power of art.

Review Quotes

"A brilliantly prismatic story. . . . Kingsolver is one of the finest living writers, and her latest will join Demon Copperhead and The Poisonwood Bible as another modern classic." - Library Journal (starred review)

"Brilliant, affecting work from one of contemporary literature's masters. . . . A fierce belief that great art is for everyone joins Kingsolver's familiar preoccupations with class distinctions, social injustice, and the complex bonds of family and community in a tender denouement." - Kirkus (starred review)

"Barbara Kingsolver has done it again. In this masterfully orchestrated novel, an unexpected call forces a once-ascendent pianist to revisit the affair that reshaped her youth and the career that vanished alongside it. . . . Partita refuses easy distinctions between destiny and choice, showing how class background, family damage, and thwarted ambition can keep shaping us long after we believe their power has faded." - Oprah Daily

"[A] deeply wrenching novel. . . . Kingsolver understands that life can be an ingenious villain. Along with her decades-long environmentalism and her call for empathy and moral justice, her abiding theme is that we can survive the unsurvivable, which is fortunate because someone or something may be lurking nearby to make us prove it. Livia Cable, the Appalachia-bred narrator of Kingsolver's new novel, Partita, is wry, resilient and as forthcoming a companion as you could ask for. . . . Kingsolver writes so transportingly about music and musicians. . .she takes on not just sexual obsession and classism, but also itchy what-ifs, human decency, the engulfing power of music and the butterfly effect of dreams deferred." - The New York Times

"Kingsolver presents an enrapturing, brilliantly plotted, deeply personal, and profoundly insightful celebration of the life of the land, the skills and struggles of farmers, and the transcendent power of art to bring us together, make us feel 'more alive, ' and make us whole." - Booklist

"Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize winner (Demon Copperhead) for a reason, and her ability to switch up topics and styles from bestseller to bestseller is nothing short of spectacular. In Partita, she touches on questions for the ages about what is and isn't worth settling for while addressing many prongs of American life like class differences, abortion access, political disengagement and education inequality. She is forceful without ever being moralistic. Partita will surpass the high expectations of Kingsolver's fans and draw many new readers along for the ride." - BookPage (starred review)

"An engrossing story. . . . Kingsolver shines in her character work. . . . This tragic story of long-held secrets will keep readers turning pages." - Publishers Weekly (Top 10 Fall Fiction)

"Partita is a Tess of the d'Urbervilles for the 21st century and it is packed with just as much feeling and heart. Without question it's my novel of the year." - The Sunday Times

"From the author of the much-loved Demon Copperhead (who doesn't have this in their top 10 list?) comes a new book that feels like both a continuation and a departure. . . . The story was born out of Kingsolver's love of both language and classical music; Partita weaves the two together with her usual grace and expert touch with words." - Elle

"Wrestles with the questions that have fueled [Kingsolver's] whole career--namely, who is art for, what makes it good, and what can it actually accomplish?" - The New Yorker

"This stunning celebration of music, passion and human resilience by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Demon Copperhead is as lyrical and moving as a Chopin composition." - People magazine

"A virtuosic performance." - The Financial Times

"Moving. . . . Expertly interweaving themes of class and healthcare, Kingsolver grapples with the question of artistic ambition versus family obligation." - Town and Country

"A tour-de-force exploration of music's power to heal." - Washington Independent Review of Books

"Kingsolver's magnificent Partita sings in the key of passion, yearning, and loss." - The Boston Globe

"Distinctly elegiac and holistic." - The Los Angeles Times

"A beautiful dual-timeline story." - Woman's World

"Yarns like Kingsolver's make for such immersive, absorbing listening, and Tusing's subtle Appalachian inflection delivers this full-hearted melodrama with earnestness and folksy, whip-smart humor." - The New York Times, "The Best Audiobooks of 2026"

"An elegant, mature work reminiscent of Ann Patchett's. And the ending? Perfection. Partita reassures with its promise of second chances." - Shelf Awareness

"A hallmark of the decorated novelist's work is her flair for pithy sentences that illuminate the human experience, giving voice to our private longings and secret vulnerabilities. . . . The author's grand and ambitious novels are written with warmth and a whimsical attunement to the human condition. . . . Kingsolver brings the full weight of her experience and her other work to the page in this entirely new story. It hits the same chords, but it is full of discovery and insight. " - Los Angeles Times

"A lush and wrenching narrative about the paths not taken, the ingenuity of music and human decency." - New York Times ("Ten New Books We Recommend This Week")

"A breathtaking story about the power of our obsessions." - Real Simple

"Kingsolver's lyrical prose makes the book read like a concerto." - Airmail