Music for Wartime: Stories

Music for Wartime: Stories

<p><b>Named a must-read by the </b><i><b><i>Chicago Tribune</i></b></i><b>,<i> O </i>Magazine, </b><i><b><i>BuzzFeed</i></b></i><b>,</b><i><b> <i>The Huffington Post</i></b></i><b>,</b><i><b> <i>Minneapolis Star-Tribune</i></b></i><b>, and <i>The L Magazine<br /><br /></i>Named one of the best short story collections of 2015 by <i>Bookpage </i>and <i>Kansas City Star</i></b><br /><br />Rebecca Makkai’s first two novels, <i>The Borrower</i> and <i>The Hundred-Year House</i>, have established her as one of the freshest and most imaginative voices in fiction. Now, the award-winning writer, whose stories have appeared in four consecutive editions of <i>The Best American Short Stories,</i> returns with a highly anticipated collection bearing her signature mix of intelligence, wit, and heart.<br /><br /> A reality show producer manipulates two contestants into falling in love, even as her own relationship falls apart. Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young boy has a revelation about his father’s past when a renowned Romanian violinist plays a concert in their home. When the prized elephant of a traveling circus keels over dead, the small-town minister tasked with burying its remains comes to question his own faith. In an unnamed country, a composer records the folk songs of two women from a village on the brink of destruction. <br /><br /> These transporting, deeply moving stories—some inspired by her own family history—amply demonstrate Makkai’s extraordinary range as a storyteller, and confirm her as a master of the short story form. <br /><br /><b>“Richly imagined.”<br /> —<i>Chicago Tribune</i><br />  <br /> “Impressive.”<br /> —<i>O, </i>The Oprah<i> </i>Magazine<br />  <br /> “Engrossing.”<br /> —<i>Minneapolis Star-Tribune</i><br />  <br /> “Inventive.”<br /> —<i>W </i>Magazine<br /> </b></p><br /><br /><br /><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>