Girl, Unstrung

Nothing's going to distract Clara from her burgeoning career as a viola player. Not her semi-famous dad. Not her new stepmom. Not her annoying sisters. And definitely not Tim, the swoopy-haired Scrabble geek.... You might think it's fun to grow up around Hollywood with semi-famous parents. You'd be wrong, and Clara Cassidy would be the first to tell you so. She's fourteen, figuring out life with three siblings and a new stepmom, and navigating her freshman year at a stupid high school where she doesn't even want to be. She was supposed to be at arts school by now. It's fine, though, totally fine: she's going to practice her viola extra hard and get into LACHSA next year. She's definitely 100 percent focused and not even slightly going to get distracted by Tim, the sophomore Scrabble champion with the swoopy hair and the chin dimple. Nope. Not her. "Girl, Unstrung offers a dynamic writing style, deep characterizations, viola-centered details, and sweet treatment of young love. Especially appropriate for teenage string players, this new work by Claire Handscombe should be on the reading lists, and then shelves, of every book-loving violist." -- Journal of the American Viola Society