After the Wallpaper Music

I really really liked this book! I don't know whether it's because I like books about teenage over-achievers (which I do, especially those who are not necessarily sports heros), and ones where there are loving relationships between generations, in this case between an aunt and her talented niece. It's not even just because all the characters are people whom it would be a pleasure to know. Put all these positives into the mix, cook gently, and you'll find that however you slice it, After the Wallpaper Music is a story that leaves you with a good taste in your mouth, one that lingers long after you've finished reading it

Young Flora, named after her Auntie Flora who lives in the basement flat of the house with Flora and her parents, is a talented violin/fiddle player in Grade 8 of middle school, a member of "The" Arden Music Centre's string quartet, and the official string quartet of Arden Middle School. This quartet has been together for years and is good enough that they get booked to play at all official school events, such as parent-teacher nights, and have even played for the occasional wedding. But what Auntie Flora likes to listen to are Newfoundland fiddle tunes; so every evening after homework and regular practicing, Flora's violin is transformed into a fiddle, and she dances her way through Auntie Flora's favourites.

Then two things happen at once: the first is a competition, The Battle of the Bands, is announced, to be held in a month, and, yes, their string quartet is eligible in spite of not being, strictly speaking, a band, and playing mostly the classics: Mozart, Hayden, Bach, and all those old guys. Certainly they will be different! The second is that Simon DeLuca, son of the lead guitarist of a well-known rock group has moved into town with his family and is going to be in their class!

Before Simon’s arrival, the class is told to be particularly nice to him because his younger sister has recently been killed in a car accident. However, Simon manages to get off immediately on several wrong feet, first by rejecting the friendly overtures of one of the boys in Flora's quartet to join them for lunch, and then during in the joint Strings and Band class by refusing to play any instrument other than percussion, in spite of the teacher's reiterating that they have two percussion players already and so he has the choice of bassoon, clarinet, or trumpet. No argument on his part, just silent refusal! One of the established percussion players rescues that particular situation, and Simon turns out to be brilliant on percussion, but things don't get better quickly. One crisis follows another, and Flora seems to be in the middle of all of them, ending up competing against herself in the Battle of the Bands. Is she being disloyal to her string quartet by also joining in a group with Simon playing a completely different sort of music? What if she wins and is also runner-up! Or hasn't time to practice with both groups? It's a conflicted set of situations which is not helped by Simon's being a difficult sort of person, and still very much suffering from the loss of his sister. Flora has to do a great deal of growing up as she learns to cope.

As I said, After the Wallpaper Music is a good book. The reader is pulled first one way and then the other as the story progresses, and the side plot of Flora's parents being somewhat celebrity-struck over Simon's father adds an amusing twist. Obviously it's not only teens who go somewhat gaga over the rich and famous! As for the Battle: did Flora have to cope with winning/not winning? Read the book and find out; I'm not telling!