Chris Cander

1962, the Soviet Union. Eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed a Blüthner piano, built at the turn of the century in Germany, on which she discovers everything that she herself can do with music and what music, in turn, does for her. Years later, married, she emigrates from Russia to America; her piano is lost in the shuffle. 2012, Bakersfield, California. Auto mechanic Clara Lundy's search for an apartment is complicated by the gift her parents gave her shortly before they died in a fire: a Blüthner upright she has never learned to play. When her hand gets broken while the piano's being moved, she decides to sell it. -- adapted from jacket

A Novel

The Weight of a Piano

Shocking family secrets have the power to destroy--or unite--an estranged mother and daughter in an emotional and gripping novel by the author of A Gracious Neighbor. Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree's husband. Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree's initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details unfold, it's clear that it was real and not just one random night gone horribly wrong--someone is out to destroy their lives. With each new threat from Paula's assailant, harrowing family secrets reemerge that force the mother and daughter to confront the shared traumas of their pasts. Drawing on courage and hope, they must save the relationship they never realized they'd lost. Reflective, suspenseful, and moving, The Young of Other Animals explores the psychic intergenerational damages that can alter relationships with loved ones forever.

The Young of Other Animals

After accidentally killing her twin sister, Myrthen is torn with guilt and marries a man beloved by her neighbor, aspiring artist Alta Krol, while years later a young child, Gabriel, mysteriously possesses knowledge of everyone's secrets.

Whisper Hollow

»Eine Liebeserklärung an die Macht der Musik und an die Macht des Schicksals, spannend und vielschichtig erzählt.« BÜCHERmagazin Die neunjährige Katya wächst im Russland der 1960er-Jahre in bescheidenen Verhältnissen in einer Stadt nahe Moskau auf. Von einer tiefen Unruhe getrieben, lauscht sie jede Nacht den eindringlichen Klaviersonaten des Mansardenbewohners. Er sei ein Ungeheuer, sagt man, ein geflohener SS-Scherge. Als der Mann stirbt, erbt Katya sein Klavier. Ein Blüthner. Es wird ihre erste große Liebe. Clara ist Automechanikerin in der Nähe von L.A. Ihre Eltern sind bei einem Brand ums Leben gekommen, und ihre wichtigste Erinnerung ist das geerbte Blüthner-Piano. Clara hasst es, denn sie hat keine Verbindung zur Musik. Aber es ist das Einzige, was ihr von ihrem Vater blieb. Ein halbes Jahrhundert und zwei Welten trennen diese beiden Frauen, die doch auf tragische Weise so viel mehr verbindet. »Chris Cander macht darin deutlich, dass materielle Sicherheit kein Garant für Glück ist, sondern dass dieses aus einem selbst heraus erwachsen muss. [...] Die Thematik, die durchaus zum Nachdenken anregt, und das Klavier als stummer Protagonist machen „Das Gewicht eines Pianos“ besonders« belletristik-couchDE »Die schicksalhafte Verbindung zwischen dem Klavier, seinen frühen und seinen späteren Besitzern inszeniert Autorin Cander als herzergreifende Komposition aus Exil-Drama, Liebesgeschichte und schwermütige Hommage an Meister wie Rachmaninow oder Skrjabin.« Mobil »Einfühlsam erzählt Chris Cander von Familie, von Liebe und davon, den eigenen Weg zu finden.« Emotion »Meiserhaft erzählt „Das Gewicht eines Pianos“ von der Macht der Musik und von der Kunst, die Vergangenheit loszulassen.« Leserin

Roman

Das Gewicht eines Pianos

When Roscoe Jones, a one-time trumpet prodigy, loses his finger, he loses more than his ability to play. Instead of becoming a musician, he becomes the superintendent of the Chicago apartment building where he has lived since birth. Very soon, his life is no longer his own; he fades into the background, plumbing and fixing and toiling for the tenants populating the eleven stories above him. Although they hardly notice him as anything but a working part of the building, he develops a sometimes uncomfortable intimacy with the details of their complicated lives. Every night, in the privacy of his basement quarters, alone with his secret longings, he plays his trumpet. That is until the evening he climbs to the roof to play in public for the first time in fifty years - and the course of his life is irrevocably changed. For some, losses may turn, unexpectedly, to gain. For Roscoe, the relationships he forms with the tenants - two, in particular - justify the amputation of his finger and the forfeiture of his dreams. This is a story about sacrifice and service, longing and love - and the abiding hopefulness of the human heart that connects us all. AWARDS Best Indie General Fiction 2013 (Kirkus Reviews) Gold Medal, Popular Fiction, 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Book of the Month, January 2014 (AiA) Silver Medal, Popular Fiction, 2014 eLit Awards

11 Stories

A gripping novel about friendship, secrets, misjudgments, and redemption among women by the USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of a Piano. Martha Hale is an affable wife and mother who lives in an affluent neighborhood of well-tended lawns and high expectations. If only her clumsiness at penetrating the social circles of her neighbors weren't making Martha so lonely. That's why she's thrilled when the glamorous Minnie Foster, a former high school classmate, moves in next door. Despite Martha's determination, picking up where they left off is trickier than anticipated--especially when their memories of the past don't always align. But Martha is undeterred. In fact, her preoccupation with Minnie's life, her success, and her marriage is becoming an obsession. When she sees a darkness and shame hiding inside Minnie's perfectly deceptive home, Martha realizes that not even Minnie's secrets are what they seem. Visceral, sharp-witted, and deeply empathetic, A Gracious Neighbor explores the judgments women pass on one another and the ills of a society curated to keep them on the outside looking in.

Chris Cander

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