Fractured Soul: A Novel

Fractured Soul is a novel that tells the story of a boy who escapes from military police after his father's violin is smashed, and he is raised in France to become a luthier. He struggles to reconcile his past with the present, but when a world-class violinist appears, his past is rekindled and he perseveres in a final bid to heal.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc

The novel "Fractured Soul" was awarded the Prix des libraires by Frances booksellers, a universal story about music and restoring one's faith in others amid the aftermath of tremendous loss.

Tokyo, 1938. An amateur quartet, led by the compassionate Yu, gathers to practice. Suddenly, their rehearsal is brutally interrupted by military police. In the ensuing skirmish, Yu's violin is smashed while his son, Rei, witnesses his father's arrest. He will never see him again. Salvaging his father's instrument, Rei escapes thanks to a mysterious lieutenant.

Paris, 2003. Raised in France, Rei – now Jacques – has dedicated his life to the broken violins repair: studying music, becoming an apprentice, and, eventually, a luthier. However, despite his effort to rehabilitate the damage of years ago, he struggles to reconcile his past with the present.

Yet, when a world-class violinist, connected to the lieutenant that helped him as a boy, appears, Jacques' past is rekindled, and he perseveres in a final bid to heal.

"Fractured Soul" is a parable of what once was lost and what there stands to be gained – a story of immense beauty and ferocious courage.

Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

Weight: 316g
Dimension: 147 x 218 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780063093669