Joey was one of the most accomplished pianists in the world during classical music’s last grand heyday at the end of the 20th century. He lived a luxurious life, and his performances in the great concert halls were globally televised. He was known even to people who do not follow music. But at the height of his career, before age 50, he suddenly and without explanation retired from playing. This set off a chain of press speculation as to why this consummate artist fell silent.

Joey’s mother, Alta, was his only piano teacher, having given up her own career as an accomplished singer to further her son’s talents. Living a privileged life with her emotionally distant oil-rich husband in Houston, Alta was unable to comprehend why her son gave up everything she ever wanted and could never have achieved.

Now, a biographer is seeking both mother and son, sensing a potentially explosive story. Joey and Alta are avidly pouring their ideas into diaries in preparation for talking to him, hoping they can stave off any interviews. Ten years have passed since Joey’s last piano recital in London, a night of storied history in classical music. He has since retired to Sydney, Australia, to rebuild his life in a place that looks and feels like home but is totally different—and distant. There he is raising a young son with Claire, the sister of his former partner, Ben, who fled the relationship at Joey’s insistence.

Through his diaries, Joey questions not only his relationships but his own artistry, which feels to him more an extension of his mother than something really his own. And through her diaries, Alta seeks meaning and purpose in the limbo she’s locked into in Houston, caring for her own mother and husband. Still unable to understand her son’s decisions, she makes an impromptu appearance in Australia to try to figure him out. Her arrival in the Antipodes ignites a chain of surprise events in both of their lives.

Patrick Summers

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