In the early days of the new millennium, pages of a weathered original sonata manuscript - the gift of a Czech immigrant living out the end of her life in Queens - comes into the hands of Meta Taverner, a young musicologist whose concert piano career was cut short by an injury. To Meta's eye, it appears to be an authentic eighteenth-century work; to her discerning ear, the music rendered there is hauntingly beautiful, clearly the composition of a master. But there is no indication of who the author might be. The gift comes with the request that Meta attempt to find the manuscript's true owner - a Prague friend the old woman has not heard from since the Second World War forced them apart - and to make the three-part sonata whole again. Leaving her boyfriend and home city of New York behind for the land of Dvořák and Kafka, Meta sets out on an unforgettable search to locate the remaining movements of the sonata and uncover a story that has influenced the course of many lives - even as it becomes clear that she isn't the only one after the music's secrets. |