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Sign up todayMusical Chairs
A Novel
Length
12 hours 39 minutes
Language
English
Narrators
Amanda Carlin, Matthew Lloyd Davies, Gibson Frazier, Fred Sanders, Jackie Sanders & Carly Robins
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreBookseller recommendation
“After a slightly slow start, this book absolutely charmed me as I fell in love with each of the characters who are all at a crossroads in their lives. As an audiobook, a full cast of narrators also helped bring each personality to life...With this one, we have three generations of a family who are eclectic and imperfect but still likable and realistic humans. It’s a study in what family is in these modern times; both those you choose and those you are related to alongside those who become pulled into your family orbit. It was a great exploration of the relationship dynamics you have with those who know you the best through time and shared experiences. It is also about what happens when untold stories and secrets come bubbling to the surface...Although I don’t listen to much classical music, it was a great throughline and worked perfectly with this cast of characters.”
— Cori • Bright Side Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“I found Musical Chairs to be an utter delight. This is my first Amy Poppel novel and it certainly will not be my last. Bridget and Will have been best friends since they were students Julliard. They also play in a trio together. They are now in the trenches of middle age and have gone through all of life's ups and downs together. Bridget inherited an old broken-down cottage in Connecticut which is filled with memories. She had high hopes for a romantic Summer with the current love of her life, Sterling. Unfortunately, Sterling backs out and Will ends up visiting along with her two adult children. The cottage soon becomes full of activity as well as quirky characters. I found this story to be very entertaining. Poppel has a gift for creating colorful, likable characters. The narration was music to my ears. No pun intended.”
— Melinda • Buttonwood Books and Toys
“Poeppel has created a story that is well thought out, well plotted, well written, and fully developed. A delightful novel that celebrates the messiness and joy to be found in real life.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“100% page-turning delight…Pull out a lawn chair and prepare to read this gleefully entertaining novel.” —Stephen McCauley, author of My Ex-Life
The award-winning, “quick-witted and razor-sharp” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six) author of Limelight and Small Admissions returns with a hilarious and heartfelt new novel about a perfectly imperfect summer of love, secrets, and second chances.
Bridget and Will have the kind of relationship that people envy: they’re loving, compatible, and completely devoted to each other. The fact that they’re strictly friends seems to get lost on nearly everyone. For three decades, they’ve nurtured their baby, the Forsyth Trio—a chamber group they created as students with their Juilliard classmate Gavin Glantz. In the intervening years, Gavin has gone on to become one of the classical music world’s reigning stars, while Bridget and Will have learned to embrace the warm reviews and smaller venues that accompany modest success.
Bridget has been dreaming of spending the summer at her well-worn Connecticut country home with her boyfriend Sterling. But her plans are upended when Sterling breaks up with her over email, her twin twenty-somethings arrive unexpectedly, and her elderly father announces he’s getting married. She concocts a plan to host her dad’s wedding on her ramshackle property, while putting the Forsyth Trio back into the spotlight. But to catch the attention of the music world, she and Will place their bets on luring back Gavin, whom they’ve both avoided ever since their stormy parting.
“In this funny, profound, and brilliantly alive novel about all the messy, wise, and wonderful chords that love can strike in our lives, Poeppel gathers together fathers and daughters, old flames and new sparks, music, writing and gardening, to explore what it really means to feel at home, and how life can open you up in ways you never saw coming” (Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author).
Amy Poeppel is the award-winning author of the novels Far and Away, The Sweet Spot, Musical Chairs, Limelight, and Small Admissions. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Rumpus, Literary Hub, and Working Mother. She and her husband have three sons and split their time between New York City, Germany, and Connecticut. She would love to hear from you on Twitter or Instagram: @AmyPoeppel or at AmyPoeppel.com.