From the acclaimed author of Four Hundred and Forty Steps to the Sea and Under a Sardinian Sky comes a lyrical new novel set against a stunning Italian backdrop. Famed for its natural beauty and rich history, Sardinia in 1968 is notorious, too, for the bandits who kidnap wealthy landowners for ransom. Eleven-year-old Alba Fresu’s brother, and her father, Bruno, are abducted by criminals who mistake Bruno for a rich man. After a grueling journey through the countryside, the two are eventually released—but the experience leaves Alba shaken and unable to readjust to normal life, or to give voice to her inner turmoil. Accompanying her mother to cleaning jobs, Alba visits the villa of an eccentric signora and touches the keys of a piano for the first time. The instrument’s spell is immediate. During secret lessons, forbidden by her mother, Alba is at last able to express emotions too powerful for words alone. Ignoring her parents’ insistence that she work in the family’s car dealership and marry a local boy, Alba accepts a scholarship to the Rome Accademia. There she immerses herself in a vibrant world of art—and a passionate affair. But her path will lead her to a crossroads, where Alba will have to reconcile the past she fled with her longing for love and family to fully convey the music of her heart . . . Praise for Sara Alexander’s Under a Sardinian Sky “Alexander paints a loving and breathtaking picture of the Mediterranean island, especially glorious descriptions of food. For readers who enjoy women’s fiction set against a background of momentous events and clashing cultures.” —Library Journal “Will leave readers riveted until the explosive conclusion.” —Publishers Weekly

The first thorough English-language exploration of the concerto as a musical form, this is an oft-quoted, authoritative survey. Examining the social, economic, and personal factors that influenced the concerto's growth, the work also summarizes the contributions of theorists, composers, and musicians and defines the genre's terms and the changing nature.

The perfect summer read for fans of Santa Montefiore, Victoria Hislop and Dinah Jeffries

Fiction. This brilliant first novel is a portrait of an artist at the end of an art form. The elderly Jewish-Hungarian composer Schneidermann, who survived a musical education, survived the war, survived Europe, survived the neglect of all his music, finally and suddenly vanishes during a movie matinee on the Upper West Side of New York. The novel begins with Schneidermann's friend--his last friend, his only friend--the violin virtuoso Laster, onstage at Carnegie Hall. He has finished playing the first movement of Schneidermann's last composition, his Violin Concerto. At this point he is supposed tobegin his cadenza...his solo. Instead, he drops his instrument and lifts his voice, delivering the text of this novel unto the audience, held captive through night into morning only by the spiel.

A History of the Concerto may be read from cover to cover, but readers may also use the extensive index to focus on specific concertos and their composers. Numerous musical examples illuminate critical points. While some readers may want to study the more detailed analyses with scores in hand, this is not essential for an understanding of the text.

Michael Perrin wants to live the simple life of an aspiring poet in Los Angeles. However, when he receives a key and a piece of music called The Infinity Concerto, Michael's life becomes anything but simple. Soon he is whisked away to the land of the Sidhe, dangerous elves in a tentative truce with humans. Barren and stark, this world is anything but the pretty pretty land of faerie tales. Drafted into learning the physical and mental skills of magic, Michael discovers of his role in a much larger history of magic and music in both the Sidhe's world and ours. Can he survive the pitched battle? Will Michael be the answer to finally uniting the elder races?