While rummaging in a cupboard one day, the narrator of 'Adagio for a simple clarinet' rediscovers his father's clarinet, forgotten for years on a high shelf. Finding the instrument arouses in him long-buried memories and the childhood passion for music that his father had thwarted. Unable to make peace with his father before he died, he now finds himself compelled to learn more about the clarinet -- its sounds, its workings, its history -- and to teach himself to play it. He chooses the 'Adagio' from Mozart's clarinet concerto, one of music's most-loved pieces. Can the haunting notes of a long-dead composer somehow provide the key to atonement? Thus begins a poignant journey back in time and a pilgrimage to Eastern Europe in search of the clarinet's origins.

'Adagio for a simple clarinet' is a deeply moving novella dealing with obsession, retribution and redemption through the extraordinary power of music. The writing is as fine as the best post-modern prose and the story is hypnotic, trapping the reader in a whirlpool of emotions.