Sonata for Miriam

December 1, 2008
Olsson (Astrid and Veronika
) explores the hard-won wisdom that can come through grief. When classical musician Adam Anker (né Lipski) stumbles upon a WWII exhibit at a museum in New Zealand and sees his birth name attached to an elderly woman's plea for information, he decides to search for his long-buried past as a way to lend clarity to his daughter Miriam's future. But later that day, Miriam is killed in an accident, and Adam spends the next year in mourning before contacting the woman, Clara Fried, and beginning a journey that spans three continents and four decades. Along the way, Adam returns to his native Poland after 20 years in New Zealand, discovers a family secret and, through letters and old friends, begins to know his parents as people. He also finds the strength to patch up his relationship with Miriam's mother, Cecilia, who narrates the final part of the book in second-person. Olsson's dense, magisterial prose pulls the reader in immediately, and Adam's profound sadness is perfectly handled—it's palpable, but never saccharine or overbearing as the narrative builds toward its unexpected conclusion.

Starred review from February 15, 2009
If we dont know where we come from, can we really know who we are? Thats the question that haunts Adam Anker, the middle-aged, New Zealandbased music professor who narrates most of Olssons poignant new novel. Growing up in Sweden, Adam forever wondered why his distant Polish mother wouldnt tell him about the circumstances of his birth and the father he never knew. When his own daughter, Mimi, is killed in a tragic accident, Adam sets off on a quest to find his roots. His search, which begins at a Holocaust exhibit in an Auckland museum, takes him to Krakow, Poland, where he spends time in the company of two wizened gentlemen who dispense a series of devastating secrets. (Adam also intermittently reflects on Mimis mother, Cecelia, a lover long absent from his life since she forced him to make a heartbreaking choice.) The novels final chapters are narrated by Cecelia, as she anticipates a reunion with Adam after nearly 20 years. As in her first novel (Astrid & Veronika, 2007), Olsson renders luminous prose that lingers over the startling beauty of New Zealand and the blistering truths of the human heart. This is a potent, piercing tale of revelation and regret.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)