The Cellist of Sarajevo * Steven Galloway

Inspired by a real musician during the 1990s siege of Sarajevo, this moving novel follows a cellist who plays daily in the rubble to honor twenty-two neighbors killed in a mortar strike, weaving his quiet defiance together with the lives of three residents trying to hold onto their humanity amid war.

The Story. Written by Canadian novelist Steven Galloway, this novel offers a spare, deeply affecting portrait of endurance and grace under siege. After watching a mortar shell destroy a neighborhood breadline, the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra vows to sit in the crater every afternoon for twenty-two days and play Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor. Moving gracefully among three ordinary citizens: Kenan, a devoted father risking sniper fire to fetch drinking water for his family and elderly neighbor; Dragan, an older bakery worker grieving the city he once knew; and Arrow, a young female counter-sniper tasked with keeping the cellist alive - the story shows how everyday rituals, shared music, and small acts of kindness keep hope alive in the darkest circumstances.

Perfect For. Book clubs, literary and historical fiction readers, and music lovers drawn to poignant, human-centered stories of resilience alongside Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow, or Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife.

Borders Original Voices Award for Fiction (2008), Scotiabank Giller Prize Nominee (2008), Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize Nominee (2009), Sakura Medal Nominee for High School Book (2010), OLA Evergreen Award (2009).

First published 2008; this edition 2009 by Riverside Books.

Historical & Literary Fiction / 1990s Balkan & Bosnian War Fiction / Music & Resilience Narratives / Multi-Perspective Literary Novels / European Historical Fiction / Book Club Favorites