The Spanish Bow

Description

A stunning, sweeping novel about the power of art and music to shape lives and nations, set in early 20th century Spain, told through the eyes of cellist Feliu Delargo. For readers of The Shadow of the Wind . When Feliu Delargo is born, late-nineteenth-century Spain is a nation slipping from international power and struggling with its own fractured identity, caught between the chaos of post-empire and impending Civil War. Feliu's troubled childhood and rise to fame lead him into a thorny partnership with an even more famous and eccentric figure, the piano prodigy Justo Al-Cerraz. The two musicians' divergent artistic goals and political inclinations threaten to divide them as Spain plunges into Civil War. But as Civil War turns to World War, shared love for their trio partner -- an Italian violinist named Aviva -- forces them into their final and most dangerous collaboration.

Born in 1970 in Chicago, Illinois, Andromeda Romano-Lax worked as a freelance journalist and travel writer before turning to fiction. Among her nonfiction works are several guidebooks to Alaska and Mexico, as well as a travel narrative, Searching for Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez. Her hobbies include playing the cello. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and two children, and is at work on a second novel about Victorian-era archaeology, set in the Middle East.

Impressive... The epic story of Feliu Delargo, an underprivileged child prodigy whose musical ability brings him into contact with world leaders, first-class artists and a life filled with loss and triumph... For sheer scope and ambition, this is a tough debut to beat. * Publishers Weekly * The book is almost dizzyingly episodic, but bound together by Feliu's lifelong struggle with the question of the proper relationship between music and politics, a subject Romano-Lax handles with finesse. ... A deft, inventive debut. * Kirkus Reviews * This riveting historical page-turner moves inexorably toward a heartrending crescendo. * Booklist * An impressive and richly atmospheric debut. * New York Times Book Review *