Author: Jessica Duchen Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories:
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Alicia Bradley, aged three, sits down at the family piano and plays with both hands, by ear, in the right key, a piece she's just heard at nursery school. Her family, seeking a quiet life in Derbyshire, doesn't know what's hit them. Alicia's dad, Guy, plays the piano himself, but only for fun. Alicia's mum, Kate, had wanted to become a musician, but her parents forbade it. As it becomes clear that they've got a prodigy on their hands, Kate's determined to give Alicia every chance to succeed, but Guy laments his daughter's lost childhood; and Alicia's brother, Adrian, sidelined amid the fracas, becomes a tearaway who can see matters more clearly than all the others put together. It's only Alicia, an affectionate, straightforward girl who loves to go running with her dog, who doesn't seem to get a say in things...
As Alicia grows up, everyone wants a piece of the Peak District Prodigy. Alicia has several lifelines: her dog, Cassie; her friend Anjali, a young Indian pianist; her sympathetic agent; and, possibly, a boy from Bloomington. But amid a warring family, unscrupulous teachers and the constant pressures of practising, concerts and competitions, will she ever be allowed a real life of her own?
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