Music for Wartime: Stories

About this book

Named a must-read by the Chicago Tribune,O Magazine, BuzzFeed,The Huffington Post,Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and The L Magazine Named one of the best short story collections of 2015 by Bookpage and Kansas City Star Rebecca Makkai's first two novels, The Borrowerand The Hundred-Year House, 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 The Best American Short Stories,returns with a highly anticipated collection bearing her signature mix of intelligence, wit, and heart. 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. 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. "Richly imagined." --Chicago Tribune "Impressive." --O, The OprahMagazine "Engrossing." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Inventive." --W Magazine