How the talented violinist Charles Kinsmith's chance encounter with the beautiful but mysterious Claudia Bertolini is revisited one year later on board a passenger liner en-route to Australia in 1885 is poignantly revealed in this most unusual yet fascinating historical romantic novel by Australian author Andrew Ryan. Set against the soul-crushing modes of the nineteenth century it reveals the couple's plight to freely exercise their right to personal expression in a society hostile to change. Fear of being humiliated for side-stepping the accepted rules of social behaviour, a dying man's life-long search to be reunited with his estranged family and the benevolent compassion of a first generation Australian widow all come together to show how easily, yet sub-consciously chance and coincidence weaves its way through each of the characters lives in this haunting and powerful novel.

アンドリュー・ライアンが描く本作は、十九世紀という閉塞的な時代のなかで、音楽と宿命が交錯する瞬間を鮮烈に切り取った魂の叙事詩です。名器アマティが象徴するように、偶然と必然が複雑に絡み合い、登場人物たちの人生を無意識のうちに変容させていく筆致には、抗いようのない美しさと残酷さが同居しています。 社会的な虚飾を剥ぎ取り、自己表現を求めて葛藤する魂の叫びこそが本作の真骨頂です。運命の荒波に揉まれる男女の姿は、単なる恋愛を超え、自由を渇望する人間性の本質を激しく問いかけます。緻密に編み上げられた偶然という名の糸が、読者の心をも深い感動へと誘う一冊です。