Grace Notes

, This song has a grace note a tiny note that's there for embellishment but can easily be ignored, not played. Tonight, I add it in - just because. We can all do with an extra note of grace. Grace Dalfinch is a talented violinist who longs to play contemporary music in bars but whose mother forbids her. James Crux is an aspiring street artist who promised his dad that he wouldn't paint in public until he's eighteen and legal. When Crux witnesses Grace's secret performance in a viral video, he's inspired to paint her and her violin on a not-so-legal wall, and when Grace stumbles across her portrait in a Melbourne alley by an anonymous street artist, she sets out to find its creator. Grace Notes is a debut contemporary young adult verse novel, set in the most locked-down city in the world - Melbourne, 2020. It's a love story, at its heart, but it's also a book about young people using art to make sense of the world around them, and to shape it too. It's for fans of Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon , and verse novels like Pip Harry's Are You There Buddha? ,

Lefa Singleton Norton: A verse novel taking place as Coronavirus takes a grip on Melbourne, Karen Comers debut Grace Notes is a lyrical exploration of how two teenagers experience exceptional times. Crux, an aspiring street artist, and Grace, an aspiring musician, are in high school when the pandemic hits. Both passionate about their respective art forms, they live in safe, loving homes with parents who support themto a point. Graces parents are determined that music comes after academics, while Cruxs parents support his art so long as he keeps it to the family garage. As restrictions and tensions rise these limits chafe. Crux risks his parents disappointment by joining a group of street artists to create a public work, painting a portrait of Grace playing her violin after seeing her in a viral video. Before long the pair find each other online and connect. The two bond over lives in limbo (I want to study music in Paris /but were running out of toilet paper.), a passion for their art (Im so far into my idea of happiness/I wont find my way back to normal life.) and the struggle to grow when they feel stifled by family, lockdowns and expectations. In Grace Notes, Comer captures the beats of Melbournes 2020 and the unique experience of a generation of teens in one of the most locked-down cities in the world. Ideal for young readers who enjoyed fellow Australian verse novel The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot or international sensation The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Lefa Singleton Norton is a writer and bookseller from Naarm/Melbourne. Books+Publishing is Australias number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Karen Comer is a freelance editor and presents writing workshops to children and adults. Earlier in her career, she worked in educational publishing and was the editor for children's art magazine BIG. She lives in Melbourne. Grace Notes is her debut novel.

This song has a grace note, a tiny note that's there for embellishment but can easily be ignored, not played. Tonight, I add it in - just because. We can all do with an extra note of grace. Grace Dalfinch is a talented violinist who longs to play contemporary music in bars, but her mum forbids her. James Crux is an aspiring street artist who promised his dad he wouldn't paint in public until he's finished school. When Crux witnesses Grace's impromptu performance on a deserted tram, he's inspired to paint her and her violin; and when Grace stumbles across her portrait in a Melbourne alley by an anonymous street artist, she sets out to find its creator. Grace Notes is a debut YA verse novel, set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world - Melbourne, 2020. For fans of Cath Crowley and Pip Harry.'A classic in the making; Grace Notes is a vital balm of a book, a story to press into everybody's hands.' DANIELLE BINKS 'Poetry, music and art, woven together in an uplifting story about endless lockdowns and first love.' NOVA WEETMAN 'Comer captures the beats of Melbourne's 2020 and the unique experience of a generation of teens in one of the most locked-down cities in the world.' Books+Publishing 'Heart and soul triumph over Covid lockdowns and restrictions . . . Karen has used the verse novel to beguile, dance and demand layers of emotion and depth that only poetry can sustain. A masterful debut!' LORRAINE MARWOOD 'Like the grace note of the title, this beautiful story strikes the perfect tone, mixing colour, light and music at a time when we needed it most.' NICOLE HAYES

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