To Love A Stranger

by Kris Faatz

Unrequited love between a pianist and conductor leads to an estranged relationship that affects the professional and family life of both characters. Unrequited love between a pianist and conductor leads to an estranged relationship that affects the professional and family life of both characters.

366 pages, Paperback

Published May 23, 2017

About the author

Kris Faatz (rhymes with skates) is a fiction writer and musician. Her first novel, To Love A Stranger, was a finalist for the 2016 Schaffner Press Music in Literature Award and was released May 2017 by Blue Moon Publishers (Toronto, ON). Her second novel, literary fantasy Fourteen Stones, was released by The Patchwork Raven (Wellington, NZ) in January 2023.

Kris’s short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including Typehouse Magazine, Streetlight Magazine, and NELLE, and has received recognition in various competitions, most recently being longlisted for Dzanc Books's 2022 Disquiet Prize. She teaches creative writing with Tiferet Journal, the Community College of Baltimore County, and Baltimore Bridges, and is a regular presenter at the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, run by Maryland’s Eastern Shore Writers Association. She is also a performing pianist.

Kris's favorite authors include Terry Pratchett, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Richard Adams, Susanna Clarke, Christopher Moore, and Neil Gaiman. She loves hiking and exploring the outdoors. She and her husband, jazz saxophonist and composer Paul Faatz, are "staff" to a family of three cats.

Reviews

[Roger Brunyate]

By a Musician, and it Shows

I bought this book (it was not a freebie) because I knew the author in her days as a pianist. For two years, Kris used to accompany opera rehearsals in my department at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. For rather longer, she was also the principal choral accompanist at the conservatory, which is the profession of her female protagonist here, Jeannette Reilly. It was no surprise, therefore, to see that Kris has the musical details in the book exactly right: not only the works that Jeannette accompanies for "Richmond Symphonic Artists," a struggling orchestra and chorus in Richmond, Virginia, but also her own piano repertoire, and the duets she plays with the dynamic young conductor Sam Kraychek, the "Stranger" of the title with whom she falls in love. I have seldom read a novel in which the classical music convinced me so completely, without being at all technical; I could have done with even more of it.

I bumped into Kris a month ago, after not seeing her for a decade, and heard about her novel. I asked about its genre. "Literary Fiction, I suppose," was her reply. She is right, though the book takes a while to get there. At first, I would have called it a Romance. Sam and Jeannette both arrive in Richmond at about the same time, each nervous about their first significant job. Sam knows he is a last-ditch hope to turn the failing ensemble around. Jeannette wonders if she can live up to the expectations of the young conductor, who has already brought stars to her eyes. But, after one scary incident at the first rehearsal, the music-making goes well, both in public and in private, and soon Jeannette is head over heels in love. When expressed through music, Jeannette's feelings are persuasive, but there is a somewhat gushy quality at other times that may be par for the genre but went on rather too long for me.

What saved it was the novel's other unusual quality. From the very first chapter, we know that Sam Kraychek's previous romantic relationship was with a man, a conductor a few years older than himself who is now dying of AIDS. This is the Reagan era, before drugs were available, when the disease was still seen as a stigma, and before most gay men felt able to come out of the closet. Was this episode for Sam merely a detour in his full sexual development, or does it speak to who he really is? There is real tenderness that builds up between him and Jeannette, but also that secret between them. I found the tension in the middle chapters almost unbearable—but it was also what pulled the book out of the Romance category. About two-thirds of the way through the novel, I found myself wondering how the author might end it. I was wrong, as it happened, but impressed by Kris Faatz's ability to keep clear of the easy, less honest solutions.

I knew Kris back then as a very good pianist, and that certainly shows. I have discovered her here as a strong author who I am sure will soon transcend the slight weaknesses of her debut novel and rise to greater heights. My only advice would be: trust your ability to tell your story through music, even for non-musical readers. When you do, your novel really shines—and that is a rare accomplishment.

[Booksandchinooks (Laurie)]

This book has two main characters, Sam and Jeanette. They meet when they both move to the same city and work in an orchestra together. Sam has just been hired as Maestro and Jeannette becomes his accompanist. There is much detail about orchestras and music throughout the book which was interesting. I found the first half of the book slow but well written and then it moves faster as the book continues. Sam has come to this orchestra with many secrets about himself. As he and Jeannette form a relationship he keeps these secrets from her. I had trouble with Jeannette in the first half of the book. Although she is supposed to be shy and quiet I found she had no backbone and just went along with everything Sam suggested. She was completely in love with him but I felt that even a shy person should have made more decisions about her future instead of blindly going along. She is aware that Sam has secrets. This book takes place in the mid to late 1980s when the AIDS epidemic had everyone afraid and unsure how to handle it. This plays a huge role in the book. I think the book finished strong with the main characters both becoming capable and well rounded. I would recommend this book. It is very heartbreaking to see what the characters go through but it is a truthful book.

[Leesa]

LOVED IT. BLURBED IT! "To Love A Stranger …is a novel full of all kinds of love—big, messy, secret. It is a novel full of music and juicy orchestra drama rivaling Mozart In The Jungle. It is a novel full of both sweetness and sadness. Readers are safe in this author’s thoughtful hands, amidst these gorgeous words, in this world rich with the heady sounds of darkness, honesty, forgiveness. To Love A Stranger is written with the harmony of humanity in mind. To Love A Stranger is a song.”

[Brigitte]

To love a Stranger is a very touching story. Trying to change, to meet the expectations of society can be more damaging and hurtful than accepting and being who you are.

Sam is a young talented Maestro who is running from his past. The Richmond Symphonic Artists, a failing small orchestra gives him a chance to try and turn things around. It's not much but it's something and more of a challenge.

Jeannette is an accompanist, looking to find her place in the music industry. She moves in with her sister to work with the Symphony. She is quiet and avoids being noticed because of what she went through in her childhood.

The first time that she meets Sam, she can hardly believe that he is the Maestro. She is impressed by his talents and becomes besotted, which is unlike her. They work well together and their souls speak to each other. Sam is convinced that they can have a "normal" relationship. He can leave his past behind! They start to make plans and soon these come to fruition. Is it as easy as it looks?

Gil, the reason he is running has contracted AIDS, and even though it's not his fault Sam feels responsible. As hard as he tries, he can't forget. Jeannette tells him about her past but he holds back. She knows that he is keeping secrets through little clues that she has picked up along the way and when the inevitable occurs, he is devastated but so is she as he won't open up to her.

This novel is about what's considered to be forbidden love. Sam is a nice person but by trying to fit in and do what he thinks is right, he causes a lot of heartaches and pain. Jeannette is naive and loving but when she realises what's been really happening, she makes a hasty decision. At this point tissues come in handy. Nathan comes across as being intrusive and hard to like, but as the story develops, his true intentions come to the surface. I feel for Sam but Jeannette is the innocent victim and she is not the only one! Honesty is definitely the best policy.

It's a beautifully written story, where the author takes us on a fantastic musical journey. It's full of love, guilt, selfloathing, lies and betrayal. The emotions are raw and I felt them all. A great debut novel.

I received a complimentary eARC from the publisher via NetGalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

[Laura]

As the author told me, when I interviewed her, the protagonist, Sam, had something that happened that made his father throw him out of the house, but like Jeannette, the other protagaonist, for the longest time, she could not figure it out. And as she wrote, she realized that it was because he was Gay.

This is a well written take on Gay life in the 1980s, during the height of the AIDS crisis, when President Reagan did not give a damn, and the Gay men were dropping like flies.

This is not a quick read. It is a well written, long drawn out story of what happens when you try to act straight while your gay former lover is dying of AIDS, and you can't tell anyone about it.

With a background of music, this story dives not only into the world of orchestras and small towns, but what one person, one man would do to be loved by his father, even to marry a woman, and try to be straight.

I would recommend this both for lovers of historical fiction, as well as for those who like stories that explore the feelings of two people who have secrets that they are suffering through.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for making this book available for an honest review.

[Elaine Mullane || Elaine and the Books]

This one just wasn't for me. It's a very simple story of love and love for music. Sadly, it just didn't leave its mark. In fact, I nearly gave up on it.

Our protagonists Sam and Jeannette meet in the autumn of 1986 when they both secure a job with the small orchestra Richmond Symphonic Artists. Reagan is in Presidency, Elton John is regular on the radio and our two main characters fall for each other through their deep discussions about music. Throughout the story they try to build a future together but as with any relationship, secrets and their pasts threaten to ruin it for them.

My main issue with this book is that there is nothing new here. Nothing to really draw me in or completely engage me. I don't feel it's essential to like the protagonists of a novel to enjoy a book (hey, look at Gone Girl) but you at least have to be intrigued by them or curious as to what path they will take throughout the course of their story. I just didn't care about Sam or Jeannette, and nothing inspired me to care about their journey in this book.

I am sure this book will appeal to some readers, but it just wasn't for me.

[Mary Harris]

"Be true to yourself" is a principal of life that we've all heard, and which many of us have had to learn the hard way. It is this truth that underpins the painful story of Jeannette and Sam, the main characters in To Love a Stranger. Both are musically gifted, and are continually redeemed by music as a lifeline to hold on to. Both are emotionally damaged and come from small towns; the only escape is moving to a city large enough to hide them.

In the city of Richmond, they meet as new employees of a small orchestra and choral group, and almost instantly bond through their love of--their need for--music as the safe harbor for their inner selves.

Jeannette and Sam have internal scars from their pasts, and try valiantly to leave those behind as they began a new life together. (Many of us who read their story know that this is impossible, that our past is with us wherever we go, and that at some point it must be faced and incorporated as part of who we are--even if the journey is fraught with painful truths. So we read and watch and hope, as these two walk their similar paths.)

Their personal restorations are described beautifully, painfully, and skillfully by the author, Kris Faatz. This is her first novel, crafted and sculpted over many years, filled with the minds and hearts of its characters from joy to sorrow and anger, to peace. The love for and language of music are used to describe their journey, and create a gracefully written novel which indeed is true to itself. Highly recommended.

[Laura Newsholme]

I have such wildly mixed feelings about this book. It tells the story of Sam and Jeanette, a maestro and his accompanist, and their relationship in Richmond during the late 80s. It is quite difficult to talk about this book without giving anything away, so I will have to keep things fairly surface level. The prose is really well written and the pacing is languid, allowing for a real interrogation of the characters and I think this was my problem. I found the two main characters really difficult to empathise with. Both people make horrendous decisions that have wide reaching consequences for other people and while I understood their motivations, that doesn't mean that I had to like them. I don't necessarily think that it is crucial to like the protagonists in a novel, but you have to be able to connect with them in some way and I just couldn't with either of these. That being said, I felt that the author writes incredibly thoughtfully and with great nuance about difficult subject matter and her writing about the music, which forms a great part of the novel, is truly exquisite. I am sure that there are people who will love this book - it just wasn't for me.

[Betwixt the Pages]

Rating: 4/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: I have the feels; I guess I understand things a little better, now; for a hot second, I was about to be REALLY angry about this book--and then I reread the blurb; I still don't quite understand

I'm going to be honest, Penguins. I got about 30% into this book, and for a hot second, was about to be REALLY angry in my review....and then I reread the blurb. See, a part of my brain thought there was no way in HELL this could be set in present-day, due to the internal monologues our main characters continued to have--and a multitude of ACTUAL THINGS other characters said aloud. But another part of my brain....well, it was confused for a moment. So when I went back and reread the blurb, and realized this is set in the 1980s, I felt better. And yet, at the same time, I DIDN'T. Because that dredged up a whole lot of emotions--and a whole lot of understanding about what my mom must have gone through, while I was growing up, in our tiny town.

When you rehearsed, you treated phrases and even individual notes like pearls. You buffed them one at a time, strung them together with careful attention. There was no such thing as spending too much time on any one moment. All of them were essential.

In performance, you forgot all of that.

The notes were not pearls anymore. They were rubies and emeralds, amethysts and sapphires, or they were pieces of coloured tile in a mosaic, or they were drops of paint in the largest mural you ever saw. They flowed past and poured around you. You stood in a living stream of colour.

I feel like the blurb promised more than we actually got from this book, however. As emotional as this journey is, these characters were not given a lot of chance to grow or resolve their traumas. If ever there was a whirlwind romance, this would be it...but I didn't feel, when closing this book on my Kindle app, that I had been given a true ending. Save for a few small moments of growth, these characters remained the same throughout--and while the ending granted a small amount of closure, I feel like there was a LOT more to be said about the things said or done in anger. I dunno....I just have a lot of mixed emotions about this read, I supposed, and I'm not so sure how to properly put them into words to get my point across.

He had looked so sad. So lost, like someone out in a deep, dark lake, struggling to keep his head above the surface. She couldn't have done anything else. She had held out her words like a rope for him to catch on to, so she could take the other end and draw him back to the shore.

After, when he had asked the question, she couldn't have answered him any other way. When someone offered you the sun on a plate, you didn't complain that it was too bright, too hot. You didn't say you were scared to touch it.

This book gave me a lot of insight into a time wrought with fear and stigma and bias...and a small glimpse into what being "different" in a tiny town (or any town, really) might have been like in such a time. But it left a lot of questions and uneasy/unanswered emotions, as well. I'd also put a trigger warning out, for those who might have trouble with things such as chronic illness, loss, death, grief. If you're seeking an emotional read, Penguins--you've found it, but try and tread lightly

[Saarah Niña]

Didn't much like the characters

This book tells the story of a man, Sam, alienated by his parents due to his romantic involvement with another man, Gil who is suffering from AIDS. To 'redeem' himself in the eyes of the Church, he attempts to change his sexuality. This gets out of hand, and those he loves are hurt..

I did like this book, the core message that you shouldn't change who you are just to fulfil the desires of others is obviously a good value to uphold. I also liked the music theme which remained a constant throughout: something the characters could trust with their true selves. I just felt the story needed some more excitement or something to entice the reader enough to actually care about the characters and Sam's struggle. For instance, I felt little sympathy for any of the characters, aside from Gil. Sam never thought through the consequences of his actions or the unfairness of deceiving someone who already showed herself to be vulnerable. Sam, for the most part, remained passive and detached from everything passing his attention aside from Gil. It just seemed as though he actually believed he could sustain his deception. This was obviously silly because it was plain to see that the author's intent had not been to portray him as the bad guy. Then, there was the character of Jeanette who foolishly refused to listen to her gut instinct and actually speak her mind or seek advice. I understood that she had little confidence but her thoughts always seemed to suggest that she would hurt anyone who hurt Sam. This conflicted ridiculously with the Jeanette that the author set out to describe from the beginning. Then, like Sam, her decisions were barely thought out. For someone described as socially anxious, introverted and cautious, her behaviour was implausible.

This book wasn't necessarily terrible. I just found that the characters, more often than not, made it a trying read.

I wouldn't describe this book as a love story, at least not in the traditional sense.

I received this book through NetGalley.

[Susan Ingram]

Any novel that can make me cry more than once is a winner. In Kris Faatz’s debut novel “To Love A Stranger,” the lives of her characters are difficult and challenging at times, yes, but also lovely and forgiving, sad and impossible. For Faatz’s musician protagonists, Sam and Jeanette, being thrown together as conductor and rehearsal pianist for a struggling Richmond civic orchestra proves their doing and undoing. The novel traces the inner lives of two people who in many ways have walled themselves up, for different reasons, but with much the same results: keeping secrets and making flawed decisions that ultimately hurt themselves and others. And that’s what I loved most about Faatz’s story – the honesty of her portrayals of the sticky, uncomfortable, heartbreaking, but ultimately loving, redemptive relationships that lie at the heart of “To Love A Stranger.”

[Susan]

What would you do if you discover a secret that your husband has been keeping from you? Jeanette and Sam share a love of music.jeanette meets Sam when they are hired by a small orchestra trying to survive. They married yet both have kept their secrets to themselves. Will they tell each other these secrets that haunt them? It is a story that may surprise you. I ended up reminding me of a statement that someone said. It was: "you really never know your friends as well as you think--we all have our secrets."

It is a well written novel. It is an emotional book. As I read, my heart felt for them. Enjoy the book.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the author/publisher from Net-galley. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

[Geeta]

I was fortunate to read an ARC and write a blurb for this compelling and well-structured novel.

How well do we know the people we love? This question is at the heart of Kris Faatz's beautifully written first novel. With Sam and Jeannette, Faatz has created two sympathetic, deeply flawed characters, driven by loneliness and a desire to belong. Set in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, their story unfolds with tragic inevitability. Compassionate and emotionally engaging, To Love a Stranger is a page-turner, a story that will resonate with the reader for a long time to come.

[Miriam Hamilton]

This book is a tribute to the eighties and a time when the people believed that LGBTQ lifestyles were a threat to society. Sam and Jeannette inhabit this painful world but live through the music that offers them sustenance to keep them going. I couldn't get the story or the characters out of my head, because Kris Faatz does a masterful job of moving us through a love affair into an ending that is both unexpected and powerful. This book stays with you for days.

[Cecelia]

To Love A Stranger is a captivating novel that pulls at your heart & mind. It is a "must finish in one sitting" book. Sam and Jeanette are beautifully genuine and accessible. Their agonies, their joys and ultimately their discovery of how best to live and love are delivered with grace and artfulness. I can't wait to read more from Kris Faatz!

[D.A.]

An engaging read that delves into complex personal and social issues. As with a previous reviewer, I do not agree with some decisions made by the main characters; however, this book is thought provoking and relevant to today's society. I suspect it will remain so for a long time.

[Gira]

Pleasantly different story

[Melanie]

Very rarely will I not finish a book, and this makes three this year. During the first chapter, the setting seemed so familiar, then it clicked “This sounds like Philadelphia with Tom Hanks. I’ve already seen this movie.” While there are definite similarities between the movie and this book, I decided to give the book a try.

Sam, the main character is so secretive he’s unlikable. He hides and lies, and this not only makes him untrustworthy, but makes me hate him before I even really get into the story. Starting in chapter one you figure out that Sam has secrets, an entirely secret side of him. While I understand the stigma about his secret, especially in 1986, I find it really difficult to read about.

Jeanette is a weak woman, terrified of her own shadow. She only cares about what every one else thinks about her. She has a “scandalous secret” that I really doubt any one in the 80s, or even in the 70s when she was young would care about. As usual, I’m not big on spoiling the book, but every time she discussed her “secret” I rolled my eyes.

With both main characters being so unlikable, I just have no love for the book. I decided to quit torturing myself with a book I couldn’t get behind at 35%.

To read all of my reviews, check out my Substack thepinkmoose.substack.com

[Susan]

The synopsis for this book makes it sound very related to popular culture in the late 1980s. That is a bit misleading. The only link this story has is to the AIDS epidemic and society's nonacceptance of a homosexual male. There is no quirky pop references to balance out the seriousness running throughout the book. Sam is trying to distance himself from his former lover, who is dying of AIDS, and his life as a gay man. Jeanette is trying to distance herself from the small town where she grew up as the bastard daughter of the town slut. When they meet, their insecurities latch on to each other and they form a really unhealthy relationship built on Sam's lie. It was a struggle to not yell at the book "why?" as Sam and Jeanette are emotionally tortured throughout the story. But this heartbreaking story was an excellent reflection of how people let society pressure them to be what they aren't.

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Blue Moon Publishers in exchange for an honest review.