Inside the novel / Vienna, 1828
A story history forgot to tell.
Vienna, 1828. Niccolò Paganini is the most celebrated violinist in Europe, and the most feared. Half the city believes he sold his soul to the Devil.
Then, at his first Viennese concert, a second violin answers him from the dark. Three notes, played with a small, late hesitation that belonged to only one person: a boy Paganini left behind in a burning conservatory in Genoa thirty years ago, after swearing never to leave without him.
Elena Valli, a meticulous music copyist hired to catalogue the maestro’s papers, begins to notice what no one else does. Following the music from Vienna to Genoa and the theatres of Paris, she uncovers a carefully staged haunting, a bundle of unread letters, and a musician history chose to forget.
Some music is only heard when someone finally listens.