This song has a grace note, a tiny note that's there for embellishment but can easily be ignored, not played. Tonight, I add it in - just because. We can all do with an extra note of grace. Grace Dalfinch is a talented violinist who longs to play contemporary music in bars, but her mum forbids her. James Crux is an aspiring street artist who promised his dad he wouldn't paint in public until he's finished school. When Crux witnesses Grace's impromptu performance on a deserted tram, he's inspired to paint her and her violin; and when Grace stumbles across her portrait in a Melbourne alley by an anonymous street artist, she sets out to find its creator. Grace Notes is a debut YA verse novel, set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world - Melbourne, 2020. For fans of Cath Crowley and Pip Harry. 'A classic in the making; Grace Notes is a vital balm of a book, a story to press into everybody's hands.' DANIELLE BINKS 'Poetry, music and art, woven together in an uplifting story about endless lockdowns and first love.' NOVA WEETMAN 'Comer captures the beats of Melbourne's 2020 and the unique experience of a generation of teens in one of the most locked-down cities in the world.' Books+Publishing 'Heart and soul triumph over Covid lockdowns and restrictions . . . Karen has used the verse novel to beguile, dance and demand layers of emotion and depth that only poetry can sustain. A masterful debut!' LORRAINE MARWOOD 'Like the grace note of the title, this beautiful story strikes the perfect tone, mixing colour, light and music at a time when we needed it most.' NICOLE HAYES 'A Romeo & Juliet tale of the modern era . . . Grace Notes [is] a compelling rallying cry for the pursuit of passion, of perseverance in the face of adversity, and the essential work of artists' Sydney Arts Guide

Freya's world is turned upside down when she and her mum move to inner-city Melbourne. Now she's ... Stuck in a new apartment on the eleventh floor and Freya is afraid of lifts. Stuck in a new basketball team where not everyone likes a killer new player. Stuck in a classroom of kids who don't know Freya is a donor-conceived baby. Stuck, just like little Audrey in the Skipping Girl sign suspended in mid-air over the suburb of Abbotsford. Being the new girl makes Freya feel like a dark cloud on a summer's day. Can she figure out how to belong on Vinegar Street? 'Very tender and also very funny - a tumbling collage of words and wonderings, fears and triumphs, where the child's world is both the hard, real thing and the stuff of magic,' URSULA DUBOSARSKY, Australian Children's Laureate 2020-2021