Possesion is nine-tenths of the law, unless you stole it.
A priceless violin. A family torn apart.
A decision that could change everything.
Berlin, 1939. Fourteen-year-old Simon Horowitz is awash in a world of music. His family owns a superb collection of instruments and at its heart is his father's 1742 Guarneri del Gesú violin. But all is lost when the Nazis march across Europe, the Horowitz family's possessions are confiscated, and Simon and his father and brother are sent to Dachau. Amid unimaginable cruelty and death, Simon finds kindness from an unexpected corner, and a chance to pick up a violin in exchange for a chance to live.
In the present day, orchestra conductor Rafael Gomez has seen much in his time on the world's stage, but he finds himself oddly inspired by the playing of an aspiring violin virtuoso, a fantastic talent who is just fourteen. When the boy, Daniel Horowitz, Simon's grandson, suddenly rebels and refuses toplay another note, Rafael decides he'll do anything he can to change that. After Rafael learns the boy's family once owned a precious violin, believed to have been lost forever, he thinks he might know how to get Daniel playing again. In taking on the task he discovers a family story like no other, one that winds from World War II and Communist Russia all the way to Rafael's very own stage.
Professional Reviews
The Keeper of Secrets
A 14 year old violin progeny is the central force in this story of a violin made in the mid 1700's. . His life balances between music and baseball. His family had many loses in the holocaust and the search for their family treasures seems to have reached a dead end. When Daniel meets world famous conductor, Rafael, the past and present collide. A wonderful story of music and history and a young boy who loves baseball.
The Keeper of Secrets
A beautiful, heart-wrenching story about a violin, a boy, family provenance, as well as innate gifts. Reading this I actually felt the music. Enough history to take my breath away... I cared for the characters deeply, in the present as well as the past & that all makes this a very well-written historical fiction novel for me.
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