Mountain Solo [Paperback]

Ever since Tess revealed her musical genius at age three, every choice in her life has been made for her. She's been moved to New York, enrolled in a special school, given the best violin teachers, and told when to practice and for how long. But no one ever told Tess what to do if she failed. . . .

The love of music links two young people--one a modern teen, the other a long-dead pioneer from the turn of the century.

The characters are likeable, and their love of music shines through . . . For anyone fascinated by the power of music and its effects on individual[s]. --School Library Journal

Tess's passion and struggle for her music sing melody, harmony, and detail. --Kirkus Reviews

JEANETTE INGOLDis the author of several acclaimed novels, includingPictures, 1918andAirfield.She lives and writes in Montana.

TESS

My mother and I returned to New York the next day, and now, two weeks later, barely into July, I'm on a late-night plane to Montana and still burning with shame. And no closer to understanding how I could have failed.

All I know is that it will never happen again. I'm taking my violin as far away as I can from everything that put me on that stage.

My throat tightens as I hold down the tears that have been hovering this whole flight out. What if Mom's right, and at sixteen years old I'm making the biggest mistake of my life?

As the plane nears Missoula, passengers lean toward cold windows, and I recognize a moonlit summer valley an instant before someone says, We're coming in over the Rattlesnake.

Scattered lights-one of them must be my dad's house-merge into the close-packed ones of downtown. Not very many lights, really, and dark mountains ring the bright basin like a cord pulled tight.

The hardest thing was getting Mom to believe I was serious. Leave your violin teacher? Drop out of music school? Are you crazyl3