Ally comes from a musi­cal fam­i­ly where her father is a famous vio­lin­ist and her moth­er was a for­mer opera star. She was admit­ted to the Jul­liard School of Music when she was six, not because of her family’s achieve­ments but because of her own. This book focus­es on the year between her twelfth and thir­teenth birth­days, a time when the pres­sure to achieve at recitals and mas­ter class­es are at their peak. This is made more dif­fi­cult because her moth­er is try­ing to relive her musi­cal life through her daugh­ter and push­es her beyond the young woman’s capac­i­ty. Her music teacher, Miss Pringle, also under­mines Ally’s con­fi­dence at every turn. 

For­tu­nate­ly, there are some sup­port­ive peo­ple in her life. Her grand­moth­er is always there for her as is her best friend, Opal, and her boyfriend, Brad. All these indi­vid­u­als try to redi­rect Ally’s focus from being a suc­cess­ful musi­cian to hav­ing a nor­mal teenager’s life. 

The cli­max of the book is unex­pect­ed and shock­ing. It graph­i­cal­ly shows what can hap­pen to an indi­vid­ual when stress­es become over­whelm­ing. Sub­se­quent­ly, Ally real­izes that she must deter­mine her goals rather than allow­ing oth­ers to do so. As her friends and fam­i­ly ral­ly around, she regains her self-confidence. 

The book focus­es on the musi­cal world; how­ev­er any­one who has tried to be suc­cess­ful from a young age in any endeav­or (sports, art) will empathize with the strug­gles and chal­lenges Ally faces. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 11 and up.