Hot off the Presses: *The Art of Hearing Heartbeats* by Jan-Philipp Sendker

There are several books out new this week that I’m really excited about!

I reviewed Defending Jacob (William Landay) yesterday, and am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on The Snow Child (Eowyn Ivey, out Feb. 1), Three Weeks in December (Audrey Schulman, out Jan. 31), and No One is Here Except All of Us (Ramona Ausubel, out Feb. 2).

Today I’m sharing a little about The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. Born in Hamburg, Sendker was a correspondent for Stern for almost a decade, traveling extensively in both the United States and Asia. He has written a previously published non-fiction work about China, entitled Cracks in the Great Wall. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats – already a bestseller in Europe – has now been translated into English by Kevin Wiliarty.

The author’s website has a short essay about the journey this novel has taken, with the blessings of a Burmese astrologer and Sendker’s conviction that The Art of Hearing Heartbeats would find a bigger audience than the initial German sales of 6,000 copies, which his publisher said was “Not a bad number for a debut novel, all things considered. An unknown author. A strange setting. No reviews. No advertising.” Readers today are glad he persevered!

The novel opens in a teahouse in Burma, where a stranger asks Julia, a woman in her mid-30s, “Do you believe in love?” He refers to a love that is more pwerful than the force of fear, a love that can triumph over death. That question sets her reeling, and sets The Art of Hearing Heartbeats in motion.

Here’s the publisher’s synopsis:

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats  spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

Curious? The book is out today – a beautiful (embossed cover, French flaps) paperback (affordable, under $15), from Other Press.