Sight Reading - by Daphne Kalotay (Paperback)

About the Book

Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay is an intense, literary love story.

When Hazel and Remy happen upon each other on a warm Boston spring day, their worlds immediately begin to spin. Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to composer Nicholas Elko, who was once the love of Hazel's life. Over the decades, each buried secrets, disappointments, and betrayals that now threaten to undermine their happiness.

We follow the notes of their complicated, intertwined lives from 1987 to 2007, from Europe to America, and from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sight Reading, from the author of the acclaimed debut novel Russian Winter, is an exploration of what makes a family, of the importance of art in daily life, and of the role of intuition in both the creative process and the evolution of the self.

Book Synopsis

Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading by Daphne Kalotay is an intense, literary love story.

When Hazel and Remy happen upon each other on a warm Boston spring day, their worlds immediately begin to spin. Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to composer Nicholas Elko, who was once the love of Hazel's life. Over the decades, each buried secrets, disappointments, and betrayals that now threaten to undermine their happiness.

We follow the notes of their complicated, intertwined lives from 1987 to 2007, from Europe to America, and from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sight Reading, from the author of the acclaimed debut novel Russian Winter, is an exploration of what makes a family, of the importance of art in daily life, and of the role of intuition in both the creative process and the evolution of the self.

From the Back Cover

On a Boston street one warm spring day, Hazel and Remy spot each other for the first time in years. Though their meeting might seem insignificant, Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to the composer Nicholas Elko--once the love of Hazel's life. It has been twenty years since Remy, an ambitious conservatory student; Nicholas, a wunderkind on the cusp of success and its challenges; and the beautiful and fragile Hazel first met. From Europe to America, from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, they have forged crisscrossing paths of thrills and doubts, wonders and betrayals, each discovering how the quest to create something real and true can lead to deep personal revelations. As Remy and Hazel find themselves once more linked by shifting fate, Sight Reading explores the mysteries of intuition and perception while unspooling a transporting story of marriage, family, and long-held secrets.

Review Quotes

"Set in the hothouse world of classical music, this wise, elegant novel maps the fallout from a passionate affair over the course of two decades. . . . Daphne Kalotay writes with grace and authority, paying equal attention to the artistic and emotional lives of her characters." - Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftovers

"Kalotay writes elegantly and ably about music and emotion, drafting a moving meditation on the sacrifices made for art and the mysteries of the heart." - Publishers Weekly

Kalotay "takes great pains to get the little details right, both musical and geographical, and the resulting read is engaging and often insightful.... [S]urprising and satisfying...with some delightfully vivid writing." - Boston Globe

"This entertaining novel follows a group of musicians through twenty years of disappointments and betrayals; lusts, regrets, afflictions, and delusions; rehearsals, recombinations, and revelations." - Edith Pearlman, award-winning author of Binocular Vision

"The characters about which Kalotay writes are deeply flawed, but also talented and fascinating to read about." - Bookreporter.com

"Kalotay's thoughtful insights on artistic endeavors add depth to this graceful book." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Kalotay's soulful second novel chronicles the collateral damage three classical musicians inflict on the people who love them. Merging two inherently incompatible modes of expression, writing and music, presents a formidable challenge-one Kalotay rises to admirably here." - Kirkus Reviews

"Kalotay's writing is clear and evocative.... [She] infuses each of the characters with total believability stemming from her understanding of classical music and her perceptions of human nature. She is a very wise writer...and her brilliant intuitions are augmented by her lyrical writing." - Toronto Star

"Ms. Kalotay manages to capture the fleeting exultation that performers feel whenever they play. It is as if she has been on stage, bow in hand, ready to make or break her career with a single piece of music: ." - New York Journal of Books

"Sight Reading is at once a compelling story about love, loss and music in four interwoven lives, and an insightful exploration of the sources and expression of creativity. Kalotay shines her light on the gap between hope and reality in each of her characters' lives. The results are compulsively readable, memorable and wise." - Nancy Richler, award-winning author of The Imposter Bride

"SIGHT READING is at once a compelling story about love, loss and music in four interwoven lives, and an insightful exploration of the sources and expression of creativity. The results are compulsively readable, memorable and wise." - Nancy Richler, award-winning author of The Imposter Bride

"Kalotay celebrates art . . . in prose that is brisk and concise as well as sensuous and sumptuous . . . A fictive musical and familial feast." - Booklist (starred review)

"[Kalotay] really shines when discussing musicians making music...[and] she effectively shows us how performing artists live. Much as we ourselves do, except they then get to create something gorgeous. - Library Journal