Play for Me: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

It happens without warning: At a folk-rock show at her sons college, Lily becomes transfixed by the guitarists unassuming onstage presence and beautiful playingand with his final note, something within her breaks loose.

After the concert, Lily returns to her comfortable lifean Upper West Side apartment, a job as a videographer, and a kind if distracted husbandbut she cant stop thinking about the music, or about the duos guitarist, JJ. Unable to resist the pull of either one, she rashly offers to make a film about the band in order to gain a place with them on tour. But when Lily dares to step out from behind her camera, she falls deep into JJs worldupsetting the tenuous balance between him and his bandmate, and filling a chasm of need she didnt know she had.

Captivating and provocative, Play for Me captures the thrill and heartbreak of deciding to leave behind what you love to follow what you desire.

Reviews

With a background as a music reviewer, Keating combines the soul-searching of Eat, Pray, Love with the rock n roll fable of Almost Famous to create a novel of midlife crisis with music at its core. Booklist I was so moved by Play For Me. Lily is thrown off kilter by loss when her son goes off to college, and seeks a remedy by reliving her own youth when she becomes involved with a touring rock band. Though the story revolves around issues of morality and fidelitywhat do we owe ourselves versus what do we owe our loved onesI cared about each character and hoped he or she would find happiness. The two men, JJ and Stephen, represent different paths, both appealing, and the twists and turns that Lily goes through in her attraction to each of them had me wondering right up until the end what she was going to decide. This is a page turner in the best sense. Cline Keating is a wonderful wise author who offers her readers the deep satisfaction of a smart story told beautifully. Alice Elliott Dark, author of Think of England and In the Gloaming Evocative, philosophical, and downright entertaining, Play for Me had me turning pages as if to discover the fate not only of its winning heroine, but of myself. Alethea Black, author of I Knew You'd Be Lovely Music pours out of this wonderful novel. Play for Me exquisitely captures the lure of the songs that define usand of those who sing themand how they posit the dubious possibility of endlessly transforming and transcending routine existence. In Lily, Keating has created an unforgettable character whose depth, wit, and passion sparkle on every page, and whose quest to redefine herself in the second half of her life is at once painfully and joyously familiar. Susan Segal, author of Aria What draws people to music and musicians The answer speaks to the transformative power of music and art: that which makes the difference between mere existence and a life fully savored. In Play for Me, Cline Keating has woven together the story of a late-life journey to explore ones authentic self. For her character Lily, music and beauty as redemptive forces prevail, despite heart-wrenching ups and downs. You need not be a music aficionado to be riveted by this eloquent tale. Alan Fark, the editor of minor7th.com Play for Me is a serious, moving, and utterly delightful portrait of a woman wavering between the bonds of fidelity and the pull of desire. Cline Keating knows as much about the world of folk/rock music as she does about the workings of the heart. Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man

Author Bio

Cline Keating is the author of two novels, Layla and Play for Me, which was a finalist in the Indie Excellence awards and the USA Book awards. Her short fiction has been published in many literary journals, and she was the first-place winner in the Hackney Literary Awards for short fiction for 2014. Keating is also a music journalist and plays classical guitar.