Variations on a Dream

Suzy Millar's father has been in prison for two years on a fraud charge, during which time she's been running the household and ministering to her fragile mother. Suzy's cello-playing has taken second place and she's unable - and unwilling - to realise her father's ambition of a place for her at a prestigious music college. Unhappy at her father's determination to run her life, she dabbles in jazz with a local band, and samples alternative lifestyles - including a residential teaching community for handicapped young people. It's here that she finds her true talent, as a teacher, becoming aware of music as a healing, spiritual force rather than merely something to be performed with exacting technique. There's the obligatory romantic interest along the way, yet the book successfully avoids the cliché-trap, holds the reader's attention and communicates a good deal about learning and growing to Year 9 readers and above.