I'm going to cut to the chase and just come out and say that this is one of my favorite books that I have read in a long time and I want every woman I know to read it and we will all be in one huge book club.

On its surface, it is a memoir of a woman who spends a few years of her young adulthood faking it as a professional violinist. The Composer, a man who is never named specifically, has written simplistic orchestral music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic soundtrack and pays semi-professional musicians to fake-play along to a soundtrack. The crowd never knows the difference, and the author becomes an accomplished violinist who really isn't that great.

Yet, there are nuanced layers to the story that make it rich and engrossing:

• Ms. Hindman had a world-class education in Middle Eastern studies during 9/11, but no one was interested in what she had to share; they would rather hear her pretend to play violin.

• After growing up in Appalachia and finding herself living among the children of the 1% in New York City, she feels that she must (literally) work herself to death to validate her existence.

• Fascinating discussions on what she refers to as "life in the body" -- the struggle every woman has in coming to terms with her body and the space it inhabits. 

I'm calling this is as my favorite book that I read in 2018.

Also: It didn't take long for folks to figure out who "The Composer" is.

arc received from the publisher