A Life Composed Through Music and Memory


Grace Notes: A Musical Memoir

by Katie M. DeBonville

A tune with familiar strains…

Katie M. DeBonville has always understood her life through music.

From the moment she picked up the flute at ten, music became her language—for belonging, for identity, for change. From teenage soundtracks of the 1980s to a career shaped by music off the stage, it has followed her through every turning point.

Now, on the cusp of fifty and facing a period of profound personal change, Katie begins to listen more closely—to the patterns, the pauses, and the unexpected shifts that have defined her life.

Grace Notes is a deeply personal yet universal memoir about growth, relationships, and the quiet ways we come to understand ourselves. Messy, graceful, and deeply human, it’s a story that will feel both familiar—and entirely its own.


Praise for Grace Notes

“DeBonville's multifaceted and deep relationship with music serves beautifully as the framework for recounting relatable stories—sometimes humorous, sometimes nostalgic, always meaningful—that readers from all generations will feel and enjoy right from the first sentence.”

—Juliet Litterer Majmudar from The Perfect Page



About the Author

Katie M. DeBonville’s work has been published in Stonecoast Review, Sad Girl Diaries, Quibblelit, Fauxmoir, and other publications. A flutist with three decades of arts fundraising experience, DeBonville often writes about being a single woman in Boston, music, and relationships. She has participated in readings with GrubStreet, Cambridge Common Writers, the International Women’s Writing Guild, and the Dylan Thomas Summer School in Lampeter, Wales. A Massachusetts native, DeBonville holds degrees in music from Bucknell University and New England Conservatory and earned her MFA from Lesley University’s low-residency creative writing program. When not writing, she enjoys attending concerts, browsing in independent bookstores, and sipping a good glass of wine. Grace Notes is her first book.

Thursday, May 28, 7PM | Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

Katie M. DeBonville, author of Grace Notes, in conversation with Matthew Principe

Porter Square Books is excited to welcome Katie DeBonville for the release of Grace Notes. Matthew Principe will join DeBonville in conversation.

Publishing the Brilliant Work of Women Authors over 50

Sibylline Press

Receive weekly Pub Date Friday emails and monthly online reflections about the book Industry for readers & authors! Compiled by wise women of a certain age. SIGN UP AND RECEIVE 10% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER FROM OUR BOOKSTORE!

Read more from Sibylline Press
Writing Weekend Image

Three New June Webinars to Strengthen Your Writing This June, Sibyl Writing Craft is offering three new webinars designed to help writers strengthen some of the most important elements of storytelling: backstory, scene work, and character. Whether you’re revising a manuscript, exploring new creative territory, or looking to sharpen your craft, these classes offer practical tools and fresh inspiration you can apply right away. WEBINAR • Thursday, June 25, 2026 • Noon - 1:15am PST The Trouble...

Aloha Wanderwell

Aloha Wanderwell Takes the Wheel: A Novel by Laurel Corona In the 1920s and 1930s, Aloha Wanderwell drove Model Ts across five continents, winning fame as the most traveled woman in the world. Sixteen-year-old Idris Hall ran away from her boarding achool in 1924, changed her name, and joined the daring around-the-world expedition of charismatic Walter “Cap” Wanderwell, beginning a decade-long adventure that would take her across five continents behind the wheel of a Model T, in an era where...

The Last Summer at Feather River

New release from Sibylline Press! FICTION | Trade Paper: 9798897400188 $20 | Epub: 9798897400195 $9.99 The Last Summer at Feather River: A Novel Karen Nelson What really happened that night? Ten years after an accident that forced her family to close Camp Feather River, Brooke must return to the ranch to care for her grandfather and face the repercussions of their decision. Brooke once loved spending every summer at Feather River, riding horses, swimming in the lake, and helping her...