JAVS Spring 2022

Book Review

Review: Girl Unstrung, Written by Claire Handscombe by Lanson Wells

Teenage violist Clara Cassidy lives and breathes to play the viola, until a skiing accident forces her to reevaluate her life, leading her to personal acceptance, a more open mind, an interest in boys, and ultimately a deeper appreciation for music. Claire Handscombe’s new novel Girl Unstrung (Amazon, $12.99, 0997552344) is

annual ski trip…where she falls and breaks her left wrist. Unable to train for her LACHSA audition and forced to take a break from viola, Clara must deal with a big change to her life plan. This leads her on a major (for a teenager) journey of soul-searching and discovery, ultimately helping her form better a better relationship with her family, find balance in her single-sighted life, and finally get her first kiss. Peppered with viola specific references, including a glossary of musical terms and mention of some of our greatest compositions, Handscombe’s book is a delight to read. 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.

a truly excellent, and viola-centric, piece of Young Adult Fiction. Taking place in Pasadena, California, Handscombe’s (author of Unscripted and Walk With Us ) work follows Clara Cassidy—the daughter of a famous actor—as she navigates (survives!) her freshman year of high school. Fourteen-year-old Clara wants nothing more than to be a violist, and she has her life and career planned out. Her unmovable plan includes attending the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, then Julliard, then on to be first chair viola of either the London Symphony or the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her trouble is, she didn’t get into LACHSA for her freshman year of high school, and is currently practicing hours every day in preparation for an audition to transfer in as a sophomore—her last chance to enroll. Enter Tim, a swoopy-haired scrabble playing sophomore, who convinces Clara to go on her school’s

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022

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