Music for Wartime Stories [Paperback]

A short-story collection from the acclaimed author ofThe Great Believers

Named a must-read by the Chicago Tribune,OMagazine, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and The L Magazine

Rebecca Makkai’s first two novels,The BorrowerandThe 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 ofThe 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.”
—WMagazine
 

“Ricocheting from the war-torn twentieth century to the reality-show-rich present day, l“+