Sonata: A Memoir of Pain and the Piano

by Andrea Avery

Andrea Avery, already a promising and ambitious classical pianist at twelve, was diagnosed with a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that threatened not just her musical aspirations but her ability to live a normal life.

As Andrea navigates the pain and frustration of coping with RA alongside the usual travails of puberty, college, sex, and just growing-up, she turns to music?specifically Franz Schubert's sonata in B-flat D960, and the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein for strength and inspiration. The heartbreaking story of this mysterious sonata—Schubert’s last, and his most elusive and haunting—is the soundtrack of Andrea's story.

Sonata is a breathtaking exploration of a “Janus-head miracle”—Andrea's extraordinary talent and even more extraordinary illness. With no cure for her R.A. possible, Andrea must learn to live with this disease while not letting it define her, even though it leaves its mark on everything around her—family, relationships, even the clothes she wears. And in this riveting account, she never loses her wit, humor, or the raw artistry of a true performer.

As the goshawk becomes a source of both devotion and frustration for Helen Macdonald in H is for Hawk, so the piano comes to represent both struggle and salvation for Andrea in her extraordinary debut.

• ISBN10: 1681774097
• ISBN13: 9781681774091
• Publish Date: 5 September 2017 (first published 9 May 2017)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Pegasus Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[lovelybookshelf]

This is a candid memoir about rheumatoid arthritis interrupting the author's dream of becoming a concert pianist. Diagnosed just as the extent of her talent is becoming clear, Avery fights to keep chronic illness from defining her, to hold on to her passions, and to find a way to balance it all. She shares gritty details of her medical history, helping readers understand that RA is more serious than "aches and pains." Interspersed throughout the narrative are relevant tidbits from music history; most notably, Franz Schubert, who holds a special place in Avery's heart and her story.