The Love We Lose

Puppy love.

That’s what they call it when you fall in love for the first time at twelve or sixteen or twenty-one years old. It’s a goofy, awkward feeling that stumbles over itself, adorable and sweet like a puppy but no less deep or strong. As in the new novel, “Partita” by Barbara Kingsolver, puppy love sometimes holds hurt in its jaws and shakes it.

He called at a really bad time.

Livia Cable’s hoarder mother had died and Liv had years of junk and memories to clear out of the house. She and Charlie were counting on the sale of it for their retirement, so the faster the house was emptied, the better.

And then Sigurd called. He wanted to drive from Nashville to Livia’s farm to see her, and she wasn’t sure why.

Years ago, when Livia arrived at college in Bloomington, Indiana, with a dream of being a pianist, she was practically a baby. In high school, living in a tiny farming community, she didn’t date much; practicing the piano at her church consumed her time. Teachers were encouraging, her father was supportive, even her late brother had uplifted her. But her mother was hateful, always trying to snatch Livia’s dream away.

What did Liv know about love then, anyway? She thought she had it with the wrong man. She didn’t know a thing, not really, until she met Sigurd.

Dark, handsome, and irresistible, she couldn’t keep her hands off him. They spent hours in his apartment, in his bed, in political meetings, in practice rooms where she played concertos for him. Their lives together were like a partita, “a composition made of a lot of parts,” she said. His politics. Her music. Their future.

But their ideals didn’t mesh, and he left her to move to Colorado. She remembered the pain of it now. The career-ending accident. The life-altering aftermath. Her return to Tennessee. She thought about Sigurd now and then – but was that any reason to upend her life and see him again?

Here’s a little shred of advice: before picking up “Partita,” don oven mitts. You may need them, in some places, to handle the sweltering heat that’s here. Also have tissues handy for this novel of lost loves, memories, and iffy reunions.

You know how it feels to think of the first (or last) person who broke your heart, so you know a little bit of what’s inside this novel. You might recognize the thought that maybe you settled for what you have, good or bad. This book is passionate like that on many levels, but that’s not all: author Barbara Kingsolver offers a whole cast of peripheral characters - walk-ons, if you will - who have big impact on the tale but little-to-no footprint. Watch for them; they really make this story the aching blockbuster it is.

Surprisingly, farm folks will love this book for its authenticity. Musicians, likewise, but all readers will want to beware the spiciness of it. “Partita” can be hot, but it’s also doggone good.

“Partita” by Barbara Kingsolver, c. 2026, Harper, 339 pages.