Unstrung

In Spinella’s wrenching tale of love and loss, one woman must come to terms with her past and the decisions that have shaped her life. On the surface, Olivia Van Doren has a good life. She is a successful violinist who plays with the New England Symphony, and she and her husband, Rob, a financier, live in a tony Boston brownstone. But Olivia runs afoul of the law when she bashes in Rob’s Porsche after learning that he used her mother’s home as collateral in a business deal gone bad. Olivia’s punishment is community service at Braemore, a rough Boston public school where she works with Theo McAdams, a talented young musician whose father died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though Olivia claims that she wants to work at Braemore because she can help young musicians and work with Theo, she has another reason for wanting to be there, a reason that she has disclosed to no one. As Olivia’s marriage to Rob remains on shaky ground, a man from her past reappears, and she must make some of the most difficult decisions of her life. Spinella has filled her incredibly emotional novel with multifaceted characters, and nothing is as simple as it seems in this true page-turner. Agents: Susan Cohen and Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Feb.)