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 has experienced in Hungary, it’s hard for both child and adoptive parents to make headway – until they discover Tomas’s musical talent and he becomes involved in the music programme. As an advertisement for Sistema it’s an intriguing and powerful book, but it’s equally a heart-warming, gentle and moving tale of the salvation of a damaged and troubled boy – and his new family.