Ansay, A. Manette

Battling feelings of loss and apathy in the wake of a painful divorce, novelist Jeanette struggles to complete a book about the long-term relationship between Clara Schumann, a celebrated pianist and the wife of the composer Robert Schumann, and her husband's prote?ge?, the handsome young composer Johannes Brahms, while at the same time dealing with her feelings towards the mysterious, worldly Hart whose casual help with translations quickly blossoms into something more.

It is 1972 when circumstance carries Ellen Grier and her family back to Holly's Field, WI. Dutifully accompanying her newly unemployed husband, Ellen and her 2 children move into the home of her in-laws on Vinegar Hill. This is a loveless house where calculated cruelty is a way of life.

A memoir in which the author recalls her childhood, her training to become a concert pianist, and the mysterious muscle disorder that forced her to abandon that plan and turn instead to writing, and discusses what she has learned about life and faith from her experiences.