Can't lay my hands on Pageant, but have tried emailing Kathryn Lasky from a link on her website
A NY Times article (link below) gives some possible insight - but not enough to guarantee success with the question. (Sarah's
eccentric aunt Hattie, ... and starts trying to run Sarah's life, along with those of the classical musicians she manages"
The final blow is a subtle but insistent run-in with sexual reality. ''It seemed to Sarah that sex had become some sort of joke, and that although she understood, she simply did not find the punch line as funny as the rest of the world did.'' Could be a birth??? Missing a snowstorm though!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res =9A0DEFDF163FF93AA35752C1A960948260&n=Top%2FFe atures%2FBooks%2FBook%20Reviews