Music of the Ghosts

by Vaddey Ratner

2014 · literary fiction · adult

Set in 2 places · 1 primary
Sense of Place
5/5
Description · Open Library (CC0)

Leaving the safety of America, Teera returns to Cambodia for the first time since her harrowing escape as a child refugee. She carries a letter from a man who mysteriously signs himself as "the Old Musician" and claims to have known her father in the Khmer Rouge prison where he disappeared twenty-five years ago. Arriving in Phnom Penh, Teera finds a society still in turmoil, where perpetrators and survivors of atrocity live side by side. Soon she meets a young doctor who carries his own memories of that time but also shows her a beautiful country on a fragile path of reconciliation. Meanwhile, the Old Musician anticipates the confession he must make. Together Teera and the Old Musician confront the truth of their intertwined past, weaving a melody that will leave both transformed, and freeing Teera to find a new home and a new love in the places she least expects.--Adapted from book jacket.

Set in

  • Gdańsk · Poland
    Oskar's wartime Danzig childhood
    ★ primary
  • Düsseldorf · Germany
    Postwar West Germany scenes