Magic Strings

I have been a fan of Mitch Albom's work for a number of years. I thoroughly enjoyed The Five People You Meet In Heaven, For One More Day, and Tuesdays With Morrie. 

However, this book, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, absolutely blew me away. The narrator is music and the protagonist is introduced at his own funeral. 

Albom makes the character of Frankie amazingly real, starting with his dramatic birth in a burning church during the Spanish Civil War. He is essentially raised by a blind music teacher and given a guitar with six precious strings. Sent to America as a child to escape the war, his tale is told in his interactions with other musicians of his era, from Duke Ellington to Elvis. Gifted with phenomenal talent, Frankie becomes a pop star himself. But is it enough?

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto did a lovely job of taking me away from the woes of the present world and into a world of music, passion, and fantasy. For me, it is Albom's finest work to date.