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The Black Violin

A Novel

Translated by Chris Mulhern

About The Book

There were many musical souls adrift on that raft of silence that is Venice. There was the music of Johannes Karelsky.There was the music of Erasmus, the violin maker. And there was the music of war. But of that, the two men never spoke.

From the internationally acclaimed author of Snow comes a timeless tale of love and music set against the romantic backdrop of eighteenth-century Venice.

In 1797, the violin prodigy Johannes Karelsky arrives in Venice after fighting with Napoleon's army in the Italian campaign. After the war, he boards with an aged violin maker named Erasmus who created the legendary "Black Violin," which he forbids Johannes to touch because, as he says, "Once you have tasted it, you will never be the same again." Johannes becomes obsessed with the idea of playing this violin as well as finding the woman who saved his life when he was injured in battle.

Beautifully written and highly evocative, The Black Violin interweaves Johannes's quest for love and the history of this mysterious instrument in a narrative that is sure to resonate long after the last page is turned.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Johannes Karelsky was a violinist.
But in truth, he was far more than that.
For Johannes Karelsky was a genius.
And his secret wish was to write the most beautiful opera ever written.

Copyright © 2000 by Arléa

About The Author

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (May 11, 2010)
  • Length: 144 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781439104538

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Raves and Reviews

Publishers Weekly Fermine's pristine prose shimmers in English translation...[his] graceful delivery and bits of wisdom make this brief fiction a memorable read.

Kirkus Reviews A romantic story etched as delicately as frost on a windowpane....Crystalline and spare, this tale nevertheless packs substantial heat in its passionate embrace of youthful ideals and matters of the heart.

Romantic Times Book Club Magazine [SNOW] will entrance the reader with its beauty and light. And the love story within this novel is reminiscent of many an ethereal fairy tale

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More books from this author: Maxence Fermine