âAn intoxicating blend of music, love, and family from one of the essential writers of the internet generationâ (Stephanie Danler).
Have you ever wondered what your mother was like before she became your mother, and what she gave up in order to have you?
Itâs the early days of the new millennium, and Laura has arrived in New York Cityâs East Village in the hopes of recording her first album. A songwriter with a one-of-a-kind talent, sheâs just beginning to book gigs with her beautiful best friend when she falls hard for a troubled but magnetic musician whose star is on the rise. Their time together is stormy and short-livedâbut will reverberate for the rest of Lauraâs life.
Fifteen years later, Lauraâs teenage daughter, Marie, is asking questions about her father, questions that Laura does not want to answer. Laura has built a stable life in Brooklyn that bears little resemblance to the one she envisioned when she left Ohio all those years ago, and sheâs taken pains to close the door on what was and what might have been. But neither her best friend, now a famous musician who relies on Lauraâs songwriting skills, nor her depressed and searching daughter will let her give up on her dreams.
âA zippy and profound story of love, loss, heredity, and parÂenthood (Emma Straub), Perfect Tunes explores the fault lines in our most important relationships, and asks whether dreams deferred can ever be reclaimed. It is a delightful and poignant tale of music and motherhood, ambition and comÂpromiseâof life, in all its dissonance and harmony.