Play for Me: A Novel

by Celine Keating

Overview

It happens without warning: At a folk-rock show at her son’s college, Lily becomes transfixed by the guitarist’s unassuming onstage presence and beautiful playing—and with his final note, something within her breaks loose. After the concert, Lily returns to her comfortable life—an Upper West Side apartment, a job as a videographer, and a kind if distracted husband—but she can’t stop thinking about the music, or about the duo’s guitarist, JJ. Unable to resist the pull of either one, she rashly offers to make a film about the band in order to gain a place with them on tour. But when Lily dares to step out from behind her camera, she falls deep into JJ’s world—upsetting the tenuous balance between him and his bandmate, and filling a chasm of need she didn’t know she had. Captivating and provocative, Play for Me captures the thrill and heartbreak of deciding to leave behind what you love to follow what you desire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631529726
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	04/21/2015
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.46(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Céline Keating is the author of two novels, Layla and Play for Me, which was a finalist in the Indie Excellence awards and the USA Book awards. Her short fiction has been published in many literary journals, and she was the first-place winner in the Hackney Literary Awards for short fiction for 2014. Keating is also a music journalist and plays classical guitar.

Editorial Reviews

With a background as a music reviewer, Keating combines the soul-searching of Eat, Pray, Love with the rock ’n’ roll fable of Almost Famous to create a novel of midlife crisis with music at its core.”
—Booklist

“I was so moved by Play For Me. Lily is thrown off kilter by loss when her son goes off to college, and seeks a remedy by reliving her own youth when she becomes involved with a touring rock band. Though the story revolves around issues of morality and fidelity—what do we owe ourselves versus what do we owe our loved ones—I cared about each character and hoped he or she would find happiness. The two men, JJ and Stephen, represent different paths, both appealing, and the twists and turns that Lily goes through in her attraction to each of them had me wondering right up until the end what she was going to decide. This is a page turner in the best sense. Céline Keating is a wonderful wise author who offers her readers the deep satisfaction of a smart story told beautifully.”
­ —Alice Elliott Dark, author of Think of England and In the Gloaming

“Evocative, philosophical, and downright entertaining, Play for Me had me turning pages as if to discover the fate not only of its winning heroine, but of myself.”
—Alethea Black, author of I Knew You'd Be Lovely

“Music pours out of this wonderful novel. Play for Me exquisitely captures the lure of the songs that define us—and of those who sing them—and how they posit the dubious possibility of endlessly transforming and transcending routine existence. In Lily, Keating has created an unforgettable character whose depth, wit, and passion sparkle on every page, and whose quest to redefine herself in the second half of her life is at once painfully and joyously familiar.”
—Susan Segal, author of Aria

“What draws people to music and musicians? The answer speaks to the transformative power of music and art: that which makes the difference between mere existence and a life fully savored. In Play for Me, Céline Keating has woven together the story of a late-life journey to explore one’s authentic self. For her character Lily, music and beauty as redemptive forces prevail, despite heart-wrenching ups and downs. You need not be a music aficionado to be riveted by this eloquent tale.”
—Alan Fark, the editor of minor7th.com

“Play for Me is a serious, moving, and utterly delightful portrait of a woman wavering between the bonds of fidelity and the pull of desire. Céline Keating knows as much about the world of folk/rock music as she does about the workings of the heart.”
—Hilma Wolitzer, author of An Available Man

From the Publisher