The Ensemble by Aja Gabel

This coming of age story follows the life and career of the four members of the Van Ness String Quartet. These young driven classically trained music students begin in college and we follow their lyrical story stopping at brief intermissions broken into important concerts in their lives. With lyrical magic their stories read like the music they play and the reader is introduced to the competitive, sometimes brutal life of a classical musician. From their first disaster of a concert to getting ready to pass the baton onto others, the four are hopelessly attached to each other. They love each other, envy their talent, fear their betrayal and feed off each other to produce magical music. Four individuals whose instrument speaks a language all their own, sometimes playing only for themselves but in the end they learn to act and play as one voice- the song of the heart. A literary "Mozart of the Jungle". Stunning debut, a virtuoso performance by a new talent that I am looking forward to hearing more of.