Alicia's Gift

by JessicaDuchen (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.40

  Alicia is four years old when she sits down at the family piano and plays by ear a classical piece she heard earlier that day in nursery. Her parents, a couple of slightly above average musical ability, are amazed -- and increasingly stunned as Alicia grows older and they realise the extent of her talent. How do you deal with a child like this? Do you help her to fufil her amazing potential, hectoring them to practice their scales at 6 in the morning, not letting her play sport in case she damages her hands, or go out with friends in case she's distracted? Or do you let her have a normal childhood, and run the risk of her growing up unfulfilled, and the world losing an amazing talent? What's for sure is that Alicia's family are already showing stress fractures, and though they'll try to do the best they can, it's an impossible situation for mother, father and brother, and for Alicia herself, who doesn't seem to get a say in what goes on...

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.40

  Forbidden by her parents to become a musician, Kate Bradley is stunned when her small daughter reveals an exceptional talent for the piano. Kate is determined to give Alicia the chance to succeed and it's not long before the fame of the Peak District prodigy begins to spread. Alicia, though, craves her father's approval: Guy, with a demanding job, is rarely at home, alienated by Kate's obsession with her daughter's burgeoning career. Meanwhile Alicia's tearaway brother is sidelined, and warns his sister that Kate doesn't mother her but smother her. As the heap of white lies designed to keep Alicia concentrating on her piano in peace escalates into a mountain of deceit, conflict threatens to overwhelm the entire family - with potentially devastating consequences.