Violin. Anne Rice. 1997.

In this powerful confessional novel the creator of Lestat and Azriel conjures us the mesmeric and dangerous Stefan - part incubus, part inspiration. The nineteenth-century violinist appears on the street corner in twentieth-century New Orleans, to haunt Tirana as she grieves for the death of her husband. Tirana is one of four sisters of a Catholic family, she is in her fifties, her alcoholic mother died when she was fourteen and her own daughter has died tragically of leukaemia.

Stefan takes Triana back to Vienna in the early 1800s, where Beethoven was his teacher. In possession of Stefan’s precious Stradivarius, Triana herself becomes an international virtuoso and superstar - but always haunted by the fear her gift may be illusory.