The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management. Stasias novels include Audition and The Sound of Letting Go. She now lives in western Washington State with her husband and four sons. She holds a BA in English from GeorgetownUniversity and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. This painfully honest portrait of a family in crisis raises questions about love, responsibility, and self-sacrifice as it moves gracefully to a difficult but realistic resolution. Stasia Ward Kehoe grew up performing on stages from New Hampshire to Washington, DC.

Instead, she turns to an old friend, who is no stranger to family conflicts. Daisy’s increasingly large acts of rebellion undermine her chance to cultivate a friendship with a foreign exchange student who shares her passion for jazz. Stasia Ward Kehoes characters are so real and complex, you wont want to. Now that they are considering placing Steven in an institution, Daisy is torn, craving a respite from being Steven’s “third parent,” but also dreading the hole in the family his absence would leave. The Sound of Letting Go is deeply moving, fiercely honest, and always surprising. However, her parents, burdened by caring for Steven, “who has morphed from challenging autistic boy/ to dangerous, nonverbal near-man,” are unable to give her the support she needs. A skilled trumpet player, Daisy has used music as a means of escape from her chaotic home life for years. Kehoe’s second novel-in-verse, after 2011’s Audition, movingly evokes the conflicting emotions of 17-year-old Daisy Meehan as her family teeters on the edge of falling apart due to her younger brother Steven’s violent episodes.

The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe