The Cellist of Sarajevo
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'You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.' -- Leon Trotsky
' ... this gripping novel transcends time and place ... a testimony to the struggle to find meaning, grace, and humanity, even amid the most unimaginable horrors.' -- Khaled Hosseini
In 1945 in the firebombed Dresden Music Library, an Italian musicologist found a few charred fragments of a manuscript of what was believed to be a composition by the seventeen century Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni. He spent the next twelve years reconstructing from the fragments what has become known as Albinoni's Adagio. As it bears little resemblance to Albinoni's known work, the reconstruction is regarded as a fraud. But even those who doubt its authenticity, are agreed on its beauty.
A shell lands on a bread queue killing twenty-one people.
A cellist inspired by Albinoni's Adagio, seemingly bringing to life something new from what has been destroyed, decides to stand on the spot of the bread queue and play the piece everyday.
The Siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of a city in recent history, lasted from 5 April 1992 until 29 February 1996. The UN estimated that approximately 10,000 people were killed, and fifty-six thousand injured. On average, 329 shells hit the city every day. On the worst day, 3777 shells hit the city (22 July 1993). In a city of roughly half a million people, ten thousand apartment were destroyed and a hundred thousand damaged.
In The Cellist of Sarajevo Steven Galloway gives a fictionalized account of those dark days.
The Cellist of Sarajevo has been nominated for the Richard and Judy British Book Awards 2009.
Also read:
A Partisan's Daughter by [see BCID 7027100]
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho [see BCID 6006077]
Lessons from Kosovo by Noam Chomsky [see BCID 6988486]
A New Generation Draws the Line by Noam Chomsky [see BCID 6988493]
' ... this gripping novel transcends time and place ... a testimony to the struggle to find meaning, grace, and humanity, even amid the most unimaginable horrors.' -- Khaled Hosseini
In 1945 in the firebombed Dresden Music Library, an Italian musicologist found a few charred fragments of a manuscript of what was believed to be a composition by the seventeen century Venetian composer Tomaso Albinoni. He spent the next twelve years reconstructing from the fragments what has become known as Albinoni's Adagio. As it bears little resemblance to Albinoni's known work, the reconstruction is regarded as a fraud. But even those who doubt its authenticity, are agreed on its beauty.
A shell lands on a bread queue killing twenty-one people.
A cellist inspired by Albinoni's Adagio, seemingly bringing to life something new from what has been destroyed, decides to stand on the spot of the bread queue and play the piece everyday.
The Siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of a city in recent history, lasted from 5 April 1992 until 29 February 1996. The UN estimated that approximately 10,000 people were killed, and fifty-six thousand injured. On average, 329 shells hit the city every day. On the worst day, 3777 shells hit the city (22 July 1993). In a city of roughly half a million people, ten thousand apartment were destroyed and a hundred thousand damaged.
In The Cellist of Sarajevo Steven Galloway gives a fictionalized account of those dark days.
The Cellist of Sarajevo has been nominated for the Richard and Judy British Book Awards 2009.
Also read:
A Partisan's Daughter by [see BCID 7027100]
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho [see BCID 6006077]
Lessons from Kosovo by Noam Chomsky [see BCID 6988486]
A New Generation Draws the Line by Noam Chomsky [see BCID 6988493]
