Exile Music

A Novel

By: Jennifer Steil

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Based on an unexplored slice of World War II history, Exile Music is the captivating story of a young Jewish girl whose family flees refined and urbane Vienna for safe harbor in the mountains of Bolivia

As a young girl growing up in Vienna in the 1930s, Orly has an idyllic childhood filled with music. Her father plays the viola in the Philharmonic, her mother is a well-regarded opera singer, her beloved and charismatic older brother holds the neighborhood in his thrall, and most of her eccentric and wonderful extended family live nearby. Only vaguely aware of Hitler's rise or how her Jewish heritage will define her family's identity, Orly spends her days immersed in play with her best friend and upstairs neighbor, Anneliese. Together they dream up vivid and elaborate worlds, where they can escape the growing tensions around them.

But in 1938, Orly's peaceful life is shattered when the Germans arrive. Her older brother flees Vienna first, and soon Orly, her father, and her mother procure refugee visas for La Paz, a city high up in the Bolivian Andes. Even as the number of Jewish refugees in the small community grows, her family is haunted by the music that can no longer be their livelihood, and by the family and friends they left behind. While Orly and her father find their footing in the mountains, Orly's mother grows even more distant, harboring a secret that could put their family at risk again. Years pass, the war ends, and Orly must decide: Is the love and adventure she has found in La Paz what defines home, or is the pull of her past in Europe--and the piece of her heart she left with Anneliese--too strong to ignore?

Magnificent!

Remember being 11yo. Not a child, not a teenager. Awkward, confused, full of frustration, excitement and rage.

Now add to that being Jewish at a time when those not Jewish seek to destroy you. Kill you. Kill all you love.

Still those events of WWII dunt remove the changes happening within your 11 year old body and mind. It only piles on.

This story is beautiful. The author takes this Jewish 11 yo to another part of the world where Jews went to escape the horrors happening in Vienna. In the telling she ages, she loses loved ones, she tries to understand who she is and who she loves. She has to determine for herself the life she will live. Her experiences are limited, restricted, and horrifying at times. But some how the author tells it in an almost melodically, lyrically to the very last note.

War of Hearts and Eternity

To understand Loss and broken hearts is told within these pages. The destruction of lives torn asunder and Love tested beyond all boundaries. the Strength we have can not be measured by the breaths you take but only ever by the things that Take your breath away!

As a on of holocaust survivors…

Wonderful book. I am the son of holocaust survivors. Like Orly my parents fled Vienna. Unlike Orly I was born in Colombia three years after they arrived. My father was also allowed to keep his violin when they fled Austria. While not a professional musician, he loved playing his violin and I loved listening to him. I kept his fiddle for many years but my brother requested I give it to his oldest daughter. So this old fiddle lives now again in Europe but this time Florence Italy. My mother, like Orly’s mother never recovered from “abandoning” her parents (Orly’s mother leaving behind her son Willi). Her father shortly after leaving Austria was brutally taken to Dachau where he was gassed to death. Her mother, my grandmother, died shortly after from grief. This book is so masterfully written giving a naive reader or an “experienced” reader like myself a powerful, credible and intelligent storyline. Orly is a wonderful narrator for this book. Her story rings true and easily adaptable to the experiences of people such as myself. I listened to and read this book with my wife. We had to stop often because we were so touched and to share common experiences. This is a book that will touch any holocaust survivor and anyone who is interested in understanding how wars can cause so much trauma.

Absolutely beautiful

One of my favorite books to date. So much emotion and history wrapped together and narrated so perfectly.

not just another Holocaust book

I loved that the author was a child. I am so glad that i choose to listen to it rather than read it. I couldn't put it down... listened in my car, while cooking dinner and walking through the grocer. It was different from all of the other stories in many ways.