In 2003, at the prestigious Brookfield Conservatory in Boston, a chance encounter sparks an inimitable friendship between driven pianist and singer Anna Buckley and composer wunderkind Will Pendleton. Over the next four years, as they strive toward careers as professional musicians, their bond deepens both from shared prodigious skill and the inexplicable sense that they're kindred souls. But on the precipice of graduation, one night forever alters the trajectory of their lives, destroying their relationship in the process.
Twenty years later in New York, 16-year-old piano virtuoso Lottie Thomas is grappling with the rigors of her elite prep school and the confounding disappearance of the woman who gave her up at birth. When Lottie suddenly discovers the startling truth of her identity, the revelation catalyzes a chain of events that not only reunites Lottie with her birth parents, but forces them together on a careening, cross-country rock and roll tour-bus journey. And it is there, trapped in these tight confines, that the three must finally reconcile with the irrevocable choices made a decade-and-a-half earlier.
Juliet Izon is a journalist and author who has written for publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, and Architectural Digest. She lives with her husband, daughter, and two Ragdoll cats, splitting her time between New York City and the Hudson Valley. When she's not writing, you can usually find her at a show: Broadway, ballet, art, or (naturally) a concert. The Encore is her debut novel.
