The Prague Sonata

More about the book

From acclaimed author Bradford Morrow comes a literary quest that spans from Nazi-occupied Prague to turn-of-the-millennium New York, as a young musicologist seeks to unravel the mystery of an eighteenth-century sonata manuscript. This novel, over a decade in the making, intertwines the themes of music and war. In the early 2000s, Meta Taverner, a musicologist whose concert piano career ended due to an injury, receives a weathered sonata manuscript from a Czech immigrant in Queens. To Meta, the manuscript appears authentic, its music hauntingly beautiful and indicative of a master composer, yet the creator remains unknown. The immigrant requests that Meta locate the manuscript's true owner, a friend from Prague lost since the Second World War, and restore the three-part sonata. Leaving New York, Meta embarks on an unforgettable journey to find the remaining movements and uncover a story that has shaped many lives. As she delves into Prague's rich and tumultuous history, from World War I to the Velvet Revolution, the narrative becomes both epic and intimate, illustrating how individual acts of love and sacrifice contribute to the larger symphony of life.