Violin Lessons by Arnold Zable 


Arnold Zable takes the reader on an intimate journey into the lives of people

he met on travels over the last forty years. These are tales aching to be

told. Tales of hardship, of yearning and of celebration.



From the songs of Arab diva Umm Khultum on the banks of the Tigris to the

strains of a young boy playing the violin for his mother in Melbourne, to the

swing jazz of the nightclubs and cabarets of 1940s Baghdad, a fisherman

playing a flute on the banks of the Mekong, and Paganini in the borderlands of

eastern Poland...Music weaves its way through each of these spellbinding

stories.



Tales that span the globe, and bring us back to Melbourne to the powerful and

heartbreaking story of Amal - her flight from Baghdad, her fears boarding the

unseaworthy SIEV X, her survival when it went down, and her desire to have her

story told.



Arnold Zable's books include Jewels and Ashes, Cafe Scheherazade, The Fig

Tree, Scraps of Heaven and Sea of Many Returns. Arnold is president of the

International PEN, Melbourne, and is a human rights advocate.





'In Arnold Zable's resonant new collection, Violin Lessons, we glimpse much

and discover truth...Song and instrumental sound are included subtly in each

of the stories to arresting effect...This is an edifying book. Basry says her

life's purpose is to tell what happened. Zable, through his stories, shows us

why we need to listen.' Age



'The depths of human suffering and perseverance are conveyed through memory

and music, as Zable travels through hearts and landscapes scarred by war. This

book is a wonderfully complex, sad and beautiful read.' Australian Bookseller

and Publisher



'A gifted storyteller, Zable unearths the hidden symmetry and arresting images

that make these tales sing.' Herald Sun


Author Info:

Zable was born on 10 January 1947 in Wellington, New Zealand to Polish-Jewish

refugee parents. They moved early in his life to Australia and he grew up in

Carlton, Victoria.



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