Tomas and the Gypsy Violin

Tomas is a young Romani, or Gypsy, boy adopted from Hungary by a couple who live in Toronto. His birth family are dead. He has witnessed brutality and is difficult to reach but is now among people who want to understand him and give him a home. How this process happens, the pitfalls and successes are the story. It reads like a biography but is fiction and the Afterword gives a hint as to the reason for that feeling. The author discusses Sistema, Toronto's after school music program and what it h [...]

In it's eighty-some pages, author Robert Eisenberg tells a story that all ages can enjoy. After I finished reading it (perhaps reading it too quickly, but one just has to know what happens to Tomas along the way) I thought how interesting it would have been if some of the chapters told the story from Tomas' perspective as a stranger in a strange land. Then I thought, no. The story unfolds is as if it is all new to us too. Often, we may feel awkward around children not our own, but how much more [...]

This short novel reads at times like a biography. In fact I had to stop half-way through and check, but it is indeed fiction, based, however, on a true life experience. The author Robert Eisenberg is the founding President of a musical initiative in Toronto called Sistema (and I recommend you look it up, it’s an inspiring music programme for immigrant children). In his novel he recounts the tale of Tomas, an orphan Hungarian Roma boy who is adopted by a Canadian couple. Traumatised by what he [...]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.Tomas has endured unimaginable pain, separated from his family and thrown into a new environment where he doesn't even understand the language spoken around him. His reunion with music and his beloved violin makes his new life bearable and familiar. A touching little story of the power of music and the bonds that it creates between strangers.