Sonata for Miriam: A Novel - Softcover

Olsson, Linda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143114700 ISBN 13: 9780143114703

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2009

Synopsis

A haunting novel of loss, love, and human connection from the author of Astrid & Veronika

Linda Olsson's first novel, Astrid & Veronika, introduced readers to her gorgeous prose, and her extraordinary understanding of human relationships. With her second novel, she once again charts that terrain in a novel that also explores the significant impact of history on individual lives. In Sonata for Miriam, two events occur that will change composer Adam Anker's life forever. Embarking on a journey that ranges from New Zealand to Poland, and then Sweden, Anker not only uncovers his parents' true fate during World War II, but he also finally faces the consequences of an impossible choice he was forced to make twenty years before-a choice that changed the trajectory of his life.

About this title

About the Author:

Linda Olsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2003, she won the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Competition. Linda has lived in Kenya, Singapore, Britain, and Japan before settling in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lives today. Her previous novel, Astrid & Veronika, was published in 2007.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* If we don’t know where we come from, can we really know who we are? That’s the question that haunts Adam Anker, the middle-aged, New Zealand–based music professor who narrates most of Olsson’s poignant new novel. Growing up in Sweden, Adam forever wondered why his distant Polish mother wouldn’t tell him about the circumstances of his birth and the father he never knew. When his own daughter, Mimi, is killed in a tragic accident, Adam sets off on a quest to find his roots. His search, which begins at a Holocaust exhibit in an Auckland museum, takes him to Krakow, Poland, where he spends time in the company of two wizened gentlemen who dispense a series of devastating secrets. (Adam also intermittently reflects on Mimi’s mother, Cecelia, a lover long absent from his life since she forced him to make a heartbreaking choice.) The novel’s final chapters are narrated by Cecelia, as she anticipates a reunion with Adam after nearly 20 years. As in her first novel (Astrid & Veronika, 2007), Olsson renders luminous prose that lingers over the startling beauty of New Zealand and the blistering truths of the human heart. This is a potent, piercing tale of revelation and regret. --Allison Block

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0143114700
• ISBN 13: 9780143114703
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 287