Sonata for Miriam

Andy Paris's voice has a lovely timbre, and he performs with subtlety and attention. His protagonist, violinist and composer Adam Anker, was born in Krakow, raised in Sweden, and lives in New Zealand for part of this story, so there are many ways to go wrong with accents here. Paris avoids all of them. With respect and admirable patience, he also handles the contrived back story of Adam's secret parentage, and the terrible choice presented to him by his beloved, long-absent wife. But when the narration switches to the voice of the missing wife near the end, things unravel. There are too many new and dramatic revelations, and while Rachel Botchan performs beautifully, her voice sounds too young for middle-aged, sorrowful Cecelia. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

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.