Playing with Fire
Tess Gerritsen. Ballantine, $28 (272p) ISBN 978-1-101-88434-8
On a trip to Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell, the narrator of this haunting standalone from bestseller Gerritsen (The Bone Garden), buys an old music book titled Gypsy from an antique shop. Inside the book, on a loose sheet of paper, is a handwritten waltz, Incendio, by one L. Todesco. Back home in Boston, Julia plays Incendio on her violin, but doing so appears to set off a series of calamities, starting with the death of the family cat, that upset her relationships with her husband, Rob, and their three-year-old daughter, Lily. Julia subsequently travels to Venice, to try to learn more about the music and its Jewish composer, Lorenzo Todesco. Flashbacks spanning 1938 to 1944 chronicle Lorenzo’s tragic story, in particular his romance with Catholic Laura Balboni, as the Fascist regime’s ever harsher anti-Semitic laws tear families and friends apart. Gerritsen movingly depicts Julia’s search, which has some surprising repercussions and builds to a satisfying crescendo. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Nov.)
Details
Reviewed on: 08/03/2015
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 978-1-5113-3536-2
Compact Disc - 978-1-5012-4804-7
Compact Disc - 978-1-5012-4807-8
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-5012-4803-0
Library Binding - 500 pages - 978-1-62899-785-9
MP3 CD - 978-1-5113-3537-9
MP3 CD - 978-1-5012-4806-1
MP3 CD - 978-1-5012-4808-5
Mass Market Paperbound - 320 pages - 978-1-101-88436-2
Other - 272 pages - 978-1-101-88435-5
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-85750-294-0
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-5113-2613-1
