Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Hilda Greer discovered the violin at the age of seven, when she attended a performance by the virtuoso Phillip Manns. She believed him with a child’s faith when he declared himself the reincarnation of Niccolò Paganini and then dashed from the stage, his mind in ruins. Manns disappeared from the music world after that catastrophic performance, but Hilda’s love affair with the violin was just beginning.
Nearly a decade after his breakdown, Phillip Manns lives a reclusive life, safely insulated against the temptations of music—until a former colleague begs him to teach at a nearby conservatory. It’s there that he meets Hilda Greer, who’s come to audition at the insistence of her mother. She plays for him the piece that started it all: Paganini’s Le Streghe, or Witches’ Dance.
Entranced by the character of Hilda’s playing and unable to resist the siren call of music, Phillip takes Hilda under his wing. The two start a witches’ dance of their own, a whirlwind that sweeps them toward the International Paganini Competition. When their curtain falls, one will bask in the music world’s acclaim—and the other’s world will be shattered completely.
“Witches’ Dance is a symphony of genius and insanity, love and danger. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and the dream of acceptance. Intricate and beautifully complex.”—Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty and Awayland
“At once bold and evocative, Witches’ Dance is a captivating debut. Erin Eileen Almond tells the story of the spirited young musician Hilda and her brilliant, dangerous mentor Phillip Manns in swift prose that dances with the energy of Paganini’s violin.”—Barbara Barrow, author of The Quelling
“Erin Almond’s moving tale of brilliance and madness illuminates the power of music and the challenges of nurturing genius. A love story, really—love for another being and for music, the two so interwoven they are almost fatally inseparable. Witches' Dance is mesmerizing, with characters both flawed and sympathetic who captivate to carry us toward a dramatic conclusion.”—Daphne Kalotay, award-winning author of Sight Reading and Blue Hours
“Erin Eileen Almond’s virtuosic debut transports you into the rarefied world of classical music, where two violinists—one trying to reignite his career, the other just realizing the extent of her power—discover the price they must pay to make their art. A beautiful and engrossing tale of madness, magic, and music.”—Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light
“Witches’ Dance elegantly explores the desire for immortality through art, the desire to lose one’s body to music, to lose one’s private miseries to something greater. It’s a matryoshka doll of identities—psychological, supernatural—secret mothers, hidden wolves—and it’s a treat to travel alongside these enchanting characters as they reveal yet another power, yet another vulnerability in their striving for success, love, triumph, oblivion.”—Anca L. Szilágyi, author of Daughters of the Air
“A truly bewitching novel about music, potential madness, and that most powerful force of all: first love. Erin Almond's Witches' Dance will mesmerize you—and signifies the beginning of a long and powerful career.”—Jenna Blum, NYT bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Lost Family