Unequal Temperament

by Cheryl Walsh

From her early aspirations of being a concert pianist to her current job as a meteorologist, Morgan has found that life--much like forecasting weather patterns and tuning harpsichords--is far from an exact science. When her father, the famed painter Jon Tallis, dies unexpectedly, Morgan pushes away her husband, Rob, and the growing chasm threatens their marriage. Can Morgan find solace as an accompanist for the opera Peter Grimes? And if not in the opera, can it be found in the leading man, Ford?

With operatic flourishes, Cheryl Walsh's debut novel explores themes of isolation, trauma, infidelity, and the subtle ways parents alter the trajectory of their children's lives. Through the lens of art, music, and meteorology, Unequal Temperament examines how we navigate the storms of our lives. Will Morgan and Rob find their way home? And what is home anyway?

180 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2023

About the author

Cheryl Walsh earned a master’s degree in English history before giving in to the tug of fabrication and turning her hand to fiction writing. She has been awarded writing residencies with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and her stories have appeared in online literary journals as well as print magazines and anthologies. A native Michigander, she traded in lake-effect snow squalls for prairie blizzards and now lives and writes in Iowa City, where she shares a hundred-year-old house with her husband. Unequal Temperament is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Julie Sellers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cheryl Walsh’s Unequal Temperament is a gripping novel that interweaves the arts and the sciences to explore topics such as grief, love, trauma, and artistic expression. The main character, Morgan, is both a talented pianist / harpsichordist and a meteorologist. She understands her world and life events through meteorological and musical metaphors. When her father dies suddenly, the impact on Morgan’s individual life and her marriage produces a discordant ripple effect that permeates her thoughts and actions. By the time she realizes it’s impact, it might be too late.

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel, and I highly recommend it.

[Edward Kottick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The acoustical foundations of music tell us it is impossible to tune a keyboard instrument so that all the third and fifth intervals within an octave are pure and perfect. This, says Morgan, the protagonist of UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT, is “the Great Flaw of the musical universe.” The notes of an octave can be spaced equally, but not without penalty: every interval is out of tune. Nevertheless, this scheme, known as equal temperament, is a compromise agreed on by all pianists and piano tuners; but harpsichordists, who generally do their own tuning, reject equal temperament as sterile and boring. They prefer one of the older unequal temperaments, where the intervals differ from one other with the result that each key has an individual character.

Equal temperament is the milieu in which Morgan, a dedicated meteorologist, pursues an exciting weather-dependent career whose professional obligations at times threaten to overwhelm her. Still, she finds time to serve as rehearsal pianist for a local opera company, with its never-ending backstage drama, as well as play—and tune—her harpsichord. Her life, in other words, is equally tempered, with all her activities balanced. But her secure little world is shattered by the death of her loving father, someone close to both she and her husband Rob. Her life goes into a spiral—becomes unequally tempered—as she and Rob become more and more estranged. Morgan’s irrational descent into chaos finally ends when she tunes her neglected harpsichord and rediscovers her love for Rob.

The plot is set to a background of meteorology, painting, art history, opera, and the music of J. S. Bach, and Cheryl Walsh’s knowledge in these fields is impressively deep and secure. Walsh has an extraordinary gift for description, and the reader can scarcely help becoming enmeshed in the growing rift between Morgan and Rob. Despite life-threatening weather changes, a near affair with a narcissistic tenor, lingering pain from the couple’s decision to not have children, and the never-ending ache of her father’s demise, Morgan finally comes to realize that life is not a simple as tuning a harpsichord.

A five-star first novel from Cheryl Walsh!

[Sharon Falduto]

A story told through interwoven timelines of a woman dealing with grief and loss; the loss of her father, and the loss of the career she thought she would have. An ideal book for musicians and meteorologists, and anyone interested in reading about the human condition.

[Tabitha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unequal Temperament is a beautifully written story, that evokes a depth of feeling on many levels. The characters and their challenges are meaningful and multi-faceted. The subjects of music, weather, and family are interwoven in such ways that draw me into them, and also cause me to reflect on my own experiences. At times, the phrasing and cadence of the book brought feelings of delicious poetry. This was an altogether rich read, and I look forward to reading more from Cheryl Walsh!

[Molly Norman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5, could have been better if I didn’t hate the main character