Duet for One

Thoughts on a new novel by Martha Anne Toll

I want to congratulate my friend Martha Ann Toll on the upcoming publication of her wonderful novel, "Duet for One," coming to a bookstore near you on May 6. Toll, a musician, tells the story of a young violinist, the son of a husband-and-wife team of pianists, trying to understand the ramifications of his mother’s death. His parents’ devotion to music, and his father’s devotion to his mother, have been the defining conditions of his life, the atmosphere he has breathed since birth. He struggles to carve out a place for himself within this overarching love. Music, and the near impossibility of doing justice to it, is one of the books' themes. Another is the great disappointment and loss of purpose that comes from not measuring up in some way, of “failing” in one’s own eyes and the eyes of others. Toll shows great finesse in the way she describes the actual technical aspects of playing, both the piano and the violin and viola. Especially fascinating is the way she describes how musicians shape sound. Through her words, you experience the effort and control that go into playing music at a high level, relinquishing all other things in order to unravel its mysteries. As a very amateur piano player, who never measured up, even to my own aspirations, I could feel the tension of that pursuit quite keenly. I think all of us can.