The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

 

Ray McMillian has loved music and specifically, the violin, since he discovered them as a child.  He plays in the school band but doesn't have the advantages the other students do.  Ray is black and his family is barely scraping by, uninterested in his vocation and not able to provide private lessons or even a violin to practice on.  Ray makes do with the school's violin and practices in the air at night in his room.  Then one Christmas while on the annual family get-together, his grandmother gives him a gift he treasures.  She gives him his grandfather's violin which family history says has been passed down through the family from the former slave who was gifted it by his owner.

Now Ray can practice for hours.  At a state competition, his talent is recognized and he is chosen over many other students.   He is also noticed by one of the judges, also black, who recognizes his talent and arranges for him to be offered a scholarship at the university at which she teaches.  Ray rises to the top there and afterwards is making his way up the ladder in the world of classical music.  When he takes his violin in to be repaired, a miracle occurs and it turns out that the old violin, handed down through generations, is a Stradivarius.  This is a story that makes the news as it is worth around ten million dollars. 

But Ray just treasures it as his violin.  He continues to play it everywhere.  When he is accepted into the Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia, it is an honor he can hardly believe.  No American has won this competition except Van Claiborne and he won in the piano competition.  But before Ray can go, his violin is stolen.  How?  Who?

It's not like others hadn't wanted his violin.  His own family had a lawsuit against him, since once they discovered what had seemed like a beat up fiddle was worth a fortune, they decided they were the rightful owners.  Descendants of the former slave owner had a lawsuit as well and showed up repeatedly, trying to intimidate Ray.  A hotel maid, a baggage handler, anyone could have wanted this violin.  Could Ray possibly win the biggest competition in his life without it?

This is a debut novel for the author and received a lot of buzz.  The theme running throughout the novel is the place that race plays in the opportunities available to black students.  Only 1.8 percent of classical musicians are black and that is a result of the lack of exposure, private lessons, ability to enter and travel to regional and state competitions or to even attend college.  This book was a real touchstone to me as the author was raised in North Carolina where I live and got his degree in music from a university a few miles from me where I also attended and got a degree.  The reader will fall in love with Ray and his fight to be able to do the one thing he was made to do; play classical music and bring a love of music to everyone.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.