What Could Be Saved

Fiction. Short Stories. Going where most readers have never been--past the workshop door, behind the curtain to the hidden rehearsal space, and into the back room of a pawn shop or dealer's office, Gregory Spatz's new book delves deeply into the world of those who build, play, and sell (or steal) violins. This is a realm of obsession, of high-stakes sales and thefts, and of rapturous but also desperate performance escapades. Dense with detail, and peopled with a fabulously particular (yes, eccentric) ensemble cast, the linked pieces in WHAT COULD BE SAVED--two of novella length, and two stories--have the intense force and beauty of chamber music.

"WHAT COULD BE SAVED initiates the reader into the mysteries of a secret society of artists and artisans, thieves and treasure hunters, forgers and true believers, all of whom idolize the nearly supernatural powers and traditions of the violin. Those old, priceless instruments are like keys that unlock the quintessence of music and beauty, but they are also 'the devil's box,' just as often counterfeits that sow delusion and disenchantment as they pass from acolyte to acolyte--player to player, luthier to luthier--through the centuries. Gregory Spatz has conjoined these stories into a masterly quartet that casts the same spell on the reader as on its characters. This collection is magical, hypnotic, brilliant."--Paul Harding