Exile Music

More about the book

As a young girl in 1930s Vienna, Orly enjoys a blissful childhood surrounded by music, with her father in the Philharmonic, her mother an opera singer, and her charismatic older brother captivating their neighborhood. Unaware of Hitler's rise and the implications of her Jewish heritage, Orly spends her days playing with her best friend, Anneliese, creating imaginative worlds to escape the growing tensions. However, in 1938, their lives are upended when the Germans invade. Orly's brother flees first, and soon her family secures refugee visas to La Paz, Bolivia. As they adapt to their new life, the haunting absence of music and the loved ones they left behind weighs heavily on them. While Orly and her father begin to find stability in the Andes, her mother's emotional distance grows, concealing a secret that endangers their safety. As years pass and the war concludes, Orly faces a pivotal choice: does the love and adventure she has discovered in La Paz define her sense of home, or is the pull of her past in Europe—and the bond with Anneliese—too powerful to ignore?