Twelve-year-old violin prodigy Rosie goes on a violin strike. She's just lost her only friend as a result of her all-consuming violin schedule of rehearsals and performances, and she wants to know what it's like to be a regular kid. Rosie's mom takes Rosie's strike personally, and takes away all technology until Rosie agrees to play again - and, they're spending the summer with Rosie's maternal grandparents, who she doesn't know well (see: violin schedule). But in Connecticut, a strange thing happens: Rosie meets a girl in a shed on her grandparents' property...a girl with her mother's name, (Sho)Shanna.

Can anything Rosie says to this young version of her mom have an effect on her present-day mom? Can Rosie make her mom understand how her synesthesia makes many experiences overwhelming for her, and that she wants more balance in her life? And what about all the family history that Rosie doesn't know, and the "Hungarian song" her dying grandmother wants her to play?

Ultimately, Rosie gains the quality of attention she wants from her mother, a closer relationship with her grandpa, and the opportunity to learn more about her Jewish heritage and even have a bat mitzvah if she wants. She even regains a friendship with the friend she lost due to her violin schedule, who shows up to Rosie's grandma's funeral.

Each chapter is preceded by a musical term (e.g. fugue) and its definition.

Quotes

It's not simply that I dream in music....It makes sense to me, like a code in a language only I speak, and I can translate it into melody....It's simply the way my brain works. (1)

"...some things other people can't understand, so we don't share them."
That's how I knew I could never tell my mother about how I could see colors when I heard sounds. (74)

How can you love someone so much and also feel so angry at them? (78)

"Sometimes it feels like, if I had a choice, maybe I would choose to do it. But I don't have a choice." (Shanna to Rosie, 109)

I've never experienced a sound evolving like that... [re: Vienna the dog's sounds, 118]

And in a world where I have to pick my battles carefully, I've put my foot down about playing the violin. Every other battle is a small one to concede. (136)

"Sometimes we do things that aren't all that important to us because they matter to the people we love." (Shoshanna, 139)

I can't help but wonder if what I say to Shanna now could possibly change the future. (145)

"I don't believe in secrets...I don't think secrets are safe or healthy or helpful." (Grandpa, 173)

"Some things are too painful to share. Some memories are best left alone until we're able to tell them as the hard part of a much longer, much more beautiful story." (Grandpa, 175)

...it feels like the old rules have dissolved. There aren't new rules yet, and I get to make - and change - them as I go. I feel like I'm in control this time. (220)

How many generations of us have hidden something? And how many of us have hidden the same things? ...We hide our gifts because we're scared of standing out in the wrong ways. (237)

Anger plus sadness is purple. (284)

"You have a gift."
"But shouldn't I be the one who gets to decide how to use it?" (286) ( )