The searing and haunting debut novel from PEN finalist and New York Times bestselling writer Andrea J. Buchanan.
A 2022 "MUST-READ." — Katie Couric Media
Spanning five generations of women, Five-Part Invention wrestles with the question: if trauma echoes through generations, can love echo, too? Is the love we transmit enough to undo the trauma of the past that we unwittingly carry with us and often re-enact in the present?
When Lise, a pianist, suffers a nervous breakdown early in her marriage, her husband, in a warped act of protection and jealousy, has her piano taken away. With prose that is precise and emotionally affecting, Buchanan vividly renders how Lise's separation from her one source of expression and fulfilment cascades into her relationship with her daughter, leaving a legacy of trauma that echoes through the generations to come. From the claustrophobia of suburbia to the inner struggle that accompanies transition, these characters emerge resilient and hopeful, written in a resonant way that only Buchanan, herself a conservatory-trained pianist, could achieve.
Five-Part Invention is by turns frightening and exquisitely observed, and establishes Buchanan as a literary force.