Five-Part Invention
A NOVEL
The searing and haunting debut novel from PEN finalist and New York Times bestselling writer Andrea J. Buchanan.
A 2022 “MUST-READ.” — Katie Couric Media
Spanning five generations of women, Five-Part Invention wrestles with the question: if trauma echoes through generations, can love echo, too? Can the love we work to pass down be enough to undo the trauma of the past that we unwittingly carry with us and often re-enact in the present?
When Lise, a pianist, suffers a nervous breakdown early in her marriage, her husband. In precise, emotionally affecting prose, Buchanan vividly renders how Lise’s separation from her one source of expression and fulfillment ripples into her relationship with her daughter, setting in motion a legacy of silence and struggle that reverberates through generations. But from the claustrophobia of suburbia to the turbulent inner shifts of self-discovery, Buchanan’s characters endure and emerge resilient, rendered with the depth and sensitivity that only Buchanan, herself a conservatory-trained pianist, could achieve.
Five-Part Invention is by turns frightening and exquisitely observed, and establishes Buchanan as a literary force.
FIVE-PART INVENTION BOOK TRAILER
Praise for Five-Part Invention
Original, startling, and gorgeous
“Original, startling and gorgeous. Five generations of extraordinary women grapple with the mystery of inherited trauma in Andrea J. Buchanan’s stunningly original new novel. As gorgeously written as a master’s symphony, the story is also so immersive that I became fiercely invested in each indelible character’s changing lives and their struggles with secrets, loves, and losses, until love begins to triumph over calamity. This isn’t just a novel you read: it’s a miracle you live. I loved it.”
—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You
Immersive, moving, and captivating
“Five-Part Invention is a sweeping yet intimate story that follows several generations of exceptional women coping with trauma and persevering despite the odds stacked against them. This debut novel by Andrea J. Buchanan is absolutely immersive, moving, and captivating from the first page to the last.”
—Laura Sims, author of Looker
A masterpiece
“As its title suggests, Five-Part Invention is both complex and inventive, a symphonic exploration of identity, family, secrets, and art, a novel that crescendos like the most soul-stirring music. A piano teacher tells one of the characters, ‘You must have both intention and technique,’ and Andrea J. Buchanan displays both in abundance here. This novel is an epic, ambitious composition, crafted with tremendous beauty and dexterity and heart. A masterpiece.”
—Gayle Brandeis, author of Many Restless Concerns
Generous, inspiring, and wise
“In telling the connected stories of five generations of women, Andrea J. Buchanan’s novel investigates the sacrifices we make to create art—as well as to become ourselves. This is the story of the way mothers create a kind of music in their daughters, and build, through our love, an orchestra of souls. Five-Part Invention is generous, inspiring, and wise.”
—Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She’s Not There, and co-author (with Jodi Picoult) of Mad Honey
Press for Five-Part Invention
A Tempo Interview
A Tempo: An Interview with Rachel Katz for WWFM: The Classical Network
Broad Street Review
“Parents are people too”: Broad Street Review’s take on Five-Part Invention
Book Trailer of the Day
The trailer for Five-Part Invention is “book trailer of the day” in this issue of Shelf Awareness