Description:
Gifted young classical pianist Lila Rys finds herself in New York City studying under famed teacher George Vrubel. The move from Toronto is terrifying, but Lila is determined to bring music back to her family, where the story of her grandmother refusing to play Soviet music after tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 is family lore.
Brief description:
Christine Fischer Guy is a Toronto writer and journalist. She's a 2024 VCCA fellow and is the author of The Umbrella Mender (Wolsak and Wynn, 2014), a "terrifically entertaining read" that "keeps the reader interested partly because she avoids setting up stereotypical opposites." Her short fiction has appeared in Canadian, American and British journals. She was awarded a National Magazine Award and contributes criticism and interviews to literary journals. More: https: //christinefischerguy.com/
Review Quotes:
"Writing in an esthetically sophisticated but accessible way about music and its execution, Fischer Guy accomplishes something remarkable - she never panders to her audience by clumsily filling in knowledge gaps or going easy on people like me who view Chopsticks with a reverence typically reserved for the Goldberg Variations, but chooses instead to compel reader imagination about what we don't know. In so doing, she somehow makes it knowable, transporting us to the 'elsewhere of music.'"
--Elizabeth Kelly "National Post" (7/24/2026 12:00:00 AM)