A unique love story, a tale of loss, a parable of Europe, this
haunting novel is an examination of intimacy and betrayal in a
community rarely captured so vibrantly in contemporary
literature.
Zoli Novotna, a young woman raised in the traveling Gypsy
tradition, is a poet by accident as much as desire. As 1930s
fascism spreads over Czechoslovakia, Zoli and her grandfather flee
to join a clan of fellow Romani harpists. Sharpened by the world of
books, which is often frowned upon in the Romani tradition, Zoli
becomes the poster girl for a brave new world. As she shapes the
ancient songs to her times, she finds her gift embraced by the
Gypsy people and savored by a young English expatriate, Stephen
Swann.
But Zoli soon finds that when she falls she cannot fall
halfway–neither in love nor in politics. While Zoli’s fame and
poetic skills deepen, the ruling Communists begin to use her for
their own favor. Cast out from her family, Zoli abandons her past
to journey to the West, in a novel that spans the 20th century and
travels the breadth of Europe.
Colum McCann, acclaimed author of Dancer and This Side
of Brightness, has created a sensuous novel about exile,
belonging and survival, based loosely on the true story of the
Romani poet Papsuza. It spans the twentieth century and travels the
breadth of Europe. In the tradition of Steinbeck, Coetzee, and
Ondaatje, McCann finds the art inherent in social and political
history, while vividly depicting how far one gifted woman must
journey to find where she belongs.
From the Hardcover edition.
