Act Two: A Novel in Perfect Pitch

New Yorker Sadie Maddox is the toast of the classical-music world-and a bit of a diva. But lately her CD sales are sagging, not to mention parts of her anatomy. Maybe it's time for a change. So when her agent suggests a professorship at a small liberal-arts college, Sadie decides to give it a go. Besides, she needs the money.

But the college is in rural Iowa. Sadie's colleagues are intimidated, her students aren't impressed, and she has to live far too close to farm animals. When Sadie meets Mac, a veterinarian, she assumes they have nothing in common-he is, after all, a country-music fan-and she's counting the days until she moves back to New York. Yet, when Sadie is forced to spend time with Mac, she likes him. Her students really need her. And this quiet midwest community begins to grow on her.

But when the semester ends, Sadie packs up and decamps for the city that never sleeps and finds she can't either. Will she find the courage and grace she needs to embrace her Act Two?

Kimberly Stuart holds degrees from St. Olaf College and the University of Iowa. After teaching Spanish and English as a second language in Chicago, Minneapolis, Costa Rica, and eastern Iowa, she took a huge increase in pay to be a full-time mom. She makes her home in Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband and two young children.