At seventeen, Clara Lorenzo seems to have everything--brains, beauty, and an extraordinary talent for the piano. Her parents have provided her with the finest teacher and rearranged their lives to nurture Clara"s genius, and Clara has worked hard--to the point of obsession--to develop her talent. But Clara"s many gifts and her obsessive practicing have hidden the truth, a truth so startling that it takes an important piano competition, the confusions of first love, and a mysterious Russian folktale for Clara to begin to understand. By the time she fully sees her predicament, events have taken on a powerful momentum of their own. Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award, Broken Chords is a romance acted out in the highly charged world of an internationally renowned piano competition. Told with suspense, artistry, and an appreciation of the ever-tightening pressures that hold Clara captive, Barbara Snow Gilbert weaves the themes of self-awareness, family bonds, and courage in a classic coming-of-age story that is as lyrical as the music at its heart.