Martha Anne Toll is a novelist and literary and cultural critic, also a violist whose classical music training informs her artistic practice. She recently published her second novel, Duet for One, a beautiful love story based on the lives of musicians.his book is also about the death of a mother, and releasing this conversation on Mother's Day (in our countries) has a particular resonance for those of us whose mothers have died, and Martha and I talked about processing our own grief. We focused on both this book and her novel Three Muses, which I also recommend. You’ll hear about her high and low points as a violist, different ways she has helped with programs related to social justice, and her involvement in the literary world including supporting less-represented authors. We also talked about the classical music world and living true to your values. Martha Toll comes to writing professionally after a career dedicated to social justice, and she shared some great perspectives on both pursuits.

I've linked Martha's list of book and author suggestions in the complete show notes on my website, where you'll also find other episodes linked that you'll like, the transcript and the video!

Martha Anne Toll website

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Newsletter

(00:00) Intro

(02:34) viola teachers Max Aronoff, Raphael Hillyer

(07:46)novel Duet for One

(09:24) Martha’s parents, book critic, getting published

(11:59) Duet for One

(15:30) excerpt from Duet for One

(18:59) music in the book, continuing to play viola

(24:58) Three Muses, grooming and exploitation

(28:23)Dr. Henri Parens Holocaust survivor, cousin Ellen

(31:17) Three Muses with excerpt

(34:08) other episodes, ways to support this podcast

(34:49 dealing with rejection and grief

(40:05) law school, work in social justice

(46:09) suggested authors (books listed in show notes)

(51:34) characters to meet from her books, joyful family Thanksgiving traditions

(57:37) Martha’s Substack newsletter

(01:00:53) artists’ residencies