The Violin Lover

Susan Glickman is well known for her lithe, rich poetry and brilliant literary criticism. Now she makes a sensational fiction debut with The Violin Lover, a novel set in Jewish London in the 1930s. Written against the backdrop of Hitler's escalating campaign against the Jews, The Violin Lover tells the story of a secret love affair and its disastrous consequences. Ned Abraham, a successful doctor and amateur violinist, meets Clara Weiss and her son, Jacob. Persuaded to play a Mozart sonata with the gifted 11-year-old pianist, Ned gains Jacob's confidence and affection. At the same time, he begins a clandestine affair with the boy's mother and unexpectedly becomes a rival for her son's attention. Infused with music, The Violin Lover is a moving story in three voices. Delicately evoking the sensations of performing and listening to music, Susan Glickman accomplishes the rare feat of recreating the experience of one art form in another.

Born to Canadians living in Baltimore, MD, Susan Glickman convinced her parents to move home to Montreal at the age of one and a half. But that initial sense of being from somewhere never left her. She has lived in England, the United States, and Greece and extensively travelled across Europe, Asia, and America before settling in Toronto. Glickman's love for travel is matched by her love for books. She has worked in bookstores, in publishing, and as an English professor at the University of Toronto. Known for her lithe, rich poetry and brilliant literary criticism, Susan Glickman is the author of five highly regarded poetry collections, including Running in Prospect Cemetery: New & Selected Poems. Her critical study, The Picturesque and the Sublime: Poetics of the Canadian Landscape, won both the Gabrielle Roy Prize and the Raymond Klibansky Prize.