The Merino Rose.
Ted Spencer has a hard enough time believing the celebrated violin really exists. To find it sitting on his coffee table is nothing short of incredible. The stuff of legend, the exquisite Guarnerius has been missing for centuries.
But even though the renowned instrument is a violin lover’s dream come true, it holds only heartache for Ted. The value of the Merino Rose may be beyond measure, but he has acquired it at too high a cost.
Ted found his soul mate when he met Olivia de la Vega his senior year in high school. In the school’s production of Camelot, Ted was cast as Lancelot, Olivia as Guenevere. They should have spent their lives together but strings got in the way―family ties, career objectives, and the tangled web of fate.
Will the Merino Rose bring the two star-crossed lovers together at last, or will their love always remain the melancholy sound of distant violins?
“Edwards’s prose glides as smoothly as Ted’s playing as she articulates how deeply teen love shapes her characters’ adult lives. Readers wanting to dwell on the melancholy of ill-timed loved will devour this beautiful novel.” — Publisher’s Weekly
Listen to the music of Strings!
(8 tunes, 53 minutes)
Playlist on Spotify | Playlist on SoundCloud
Got your own music library? Here are the works, in order of their appearance in the novel. Enjoy!
Camelot, musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Fredreick Loewe
“Star of the County Down,” an Irish ballad
“Simple Gifts,” a Shaker hymn by Elder Joseph Brackett (also used by Aaron Copland for the score of Martha Graham’s ballet Appalachian Spring)
Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, Op. 56, by Sergei Prokofiev
Caprices, Op.1: No. 24 in A Minor, by Niccolo Paganini
Symphony No. 8 in B Minor “Unfinished,” by Franz Schubert
Symphonie espagnole in D Minor, Op. 21, by Edouard Lalo
Violin Concerto No. 3, Op. 61 in B Minor, by Camille Saint-Saens
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77, by Johannes Brahms
GOLD Winner, Benjamin Franklin Award for Romance
Honorable Mention, Foreword INDIES
Honorable Mention, Reviewers Choice Award for Romance, Music & Arts
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