‘It is 1797 and Napoleon’s Army has entered Venice. Among them is one Johannes Karelsky, a violinist. For now he is a soldier, but his ambition is to write the most beautiful opera ever written.

He finds himself billeted with an old man called Erasmus, a violin-maker. One evening, Erasmus decides to tell Johannes the story of his life. And settling into his favourite armchair, with a glass of grappa in his hands, he begins his tale.

The tale of the black violin.

Maxence Fermine’s second novel is in a similar vein to his previous bestseller: ‘Snow’ and like its predecessor has already been translated into ten different languages.

ISBN 0953420566 SPEC. 112pp
pbk. Price: £6.99