Length12h 32m
About this audiobook
The New York Times bestselling author of A Fierce Radiance and City of Light returns with a new powerful and passionate novel—inspired by historical events—about two women and the mysterious choral masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach that changes both their lives.
In the ruins of Germany in 1945, at the end of World War II, American soldier Henry Sachs takes a souvenir, an old music manuscript, from a seemingly deserted mansion and mistakenly kills the girl who tries to stop him.
In America in 2010, Henry’s niece, Susanna Kessler, struggles to rebuild her life after she experiences a devastating act of violence on the streets of New York City. When Henry dies soon after, she uncovers the long-hidden music manuscript. She becomes determined to discover what it is and to return it to its rightful owner, a journey that will challenge her preconceptions about herself and her family’s history—and also offer her an opportunity to make peace with the past.
In Berlin in 1796, amid the city’s glittering salons where aristocrats and commoners, Christians and Jews, mingle freely despite simmering anti-Semitism, Sara Itzig Levy, a renowned musician, conceals the manuscript of an anti-Jewish cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, an unsettling gift to her from Bach’s son, her teacher. This work and its disturbing message will haunt Sara and her family for generations to come.
Interweaving the stories of Susanna and Sara, and their families, And After the Fire traverses over two hundred years of history, from the eighteenth century through the Holocaust and into today, seamlessly melding past and present, real and imagined. Lauren Belfer’s deeply researched, evocative, and compelling narrative resonates with emotion and immediacy.
Weaving together the stories of Susanna and Sara, Lauren Belfer creates a majestic narrative that spans lifetimes and continents, encompassing both the best and the worst of the human spirit. The cantata’s troubled, riveting journey reveals that the two women have more in common than the score, and what Susanna learns may be what finally allows her to heal and move on.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.0 (7.6K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreHistorical Fiction, General Fiction
Length12 hrs 32 mins
Narrated byXe Sands, Simon Vance
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 3, 2016
LanguageEnglish
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
Scaramouche (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini15h 24m4.6 (1.8K)$2 · $0.00
Northern ShadowsDaniel Greene12h 52m4.7 (281)$23
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
Their Castilian OrphanAnna Belfrage14h 45m4.7 (122)$27
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
Eagles over BritainLee Jackson12h 26m4.5 (18.6K)$23
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m4.5 (48.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m4.5 (2.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m4.5 (5.3K)$23 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m4.5 (9.5K)$25 · $0.00
Arch of TriumphErich Maria Remarque15h 51m4.4 (36.6K)$28
Serenade for NadiaZülfü Livaneli9h 9m4.4 (20.1K)$20
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m4.4 (4.7M)$2 · $0.00
Flying Colours (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith9h 26m4.4 (10.1K)$2 · $0.00
With Love from HarlemReShonda Tate13h 48m4.5 (2K)$6 · $0.00
Under the Java MoonHeather B. Moore12h 23m4.4 (3.2K)$23
Ethic IIAshley Antoinette9h 1m4.7 (8K)$20
RiversnowTess Thompson8h 11m4.7 (1.3K)$20
Supreme ClienteleAshley & JaQuavis8h 58m4.7 (3.4K)$20
Body Refinement in a Beast Tamer’s World, Book 1Seth Ring14h 7m4.7 (1.3K)$27
Desperate MeasuresBrenda Jackson8h 59m4.7 (669)$28 · $0.00
Searching For ThanksgivingS.E. Smith4h 24m4.8 (395)$20
Naughty 4Brenda Hampton7h 30m4.7 (726)$17
The Dance with Me TrilogyShelley Shepard Gray21h 44m4.7 (1.2K)$35
The DopemanJaQuavis Coleman5h 25m4.7 (3.8K)$20
BAEJahquel J.5h 22m4.7 (3.1K)$20
Dark RisingJeffrey Wilson, Brian Andrews13h 47m4.7 (1.3K)$27
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Grand Opening 2Carl Weber9h 16m4.7 (2.4K)$20
Sons of Valor II: Violence of ActionBrian Andrews, Jeffrey Wilson12h 34m4.6 (3.6K)$23
Malevolent MagicMildred Abbott7h 13m4.7 (1.2K)$17
Bikes, Toys, and Hot BoyzGenesis Woods, Shantaé13h 9m4.7 (722)$23
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
Ghetto BastardK’wan7h 37m4.6 (2.9K)$20
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
You may also like
The Liz Taylor RingBrenda Janowitz9h 43m3.8 (2.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Keeper of StoriesSally Page10h 17m4.1 (115.2K)$25
The Hour I First BelievedWally Lamb25h 10m4.0 (74.4K)$53 · $0.00
Riding LessonsSara Gruen9h 58m3.6 (14.7K)$20
Not My Father's SonAlan Cumming6h 28m4.2 (49.6K)$24 · $0.00
The Gallery of Vanished HusbandsNatasha Solomons12h 1m3.7 (3.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Breaking WaveNevil Shute Norway10h 44m4.1 (3.9K)$2 · $0.00
All the Summer GirlsMeg Donohue7h 27m3.7 (15.7K)$24 · $0.00
Hope and GloryJendella Benson11h 4m3.8 (2K)$29 · $0.00
Fractured SoulAkira Mizubayashi5h 21m4.0 (6.4K)$24 · $0.00
A Catalog of BirdsLaura Harrington8h 19m4.2 (1K)$17
How to Grieve Like a VictorianAmy Carol Reeves9h 47m4.1 (329)$29 · $0.00
I Couldn't Love You MoreEsther Freud10h 32m3.9 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her HeadGary Small, Gigi Vorgan9h 47m3.9 (7.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Secrets of Roscarbury HallO'Loughlin, Ann8h 20m3.9 (5.6K)Free
When You Read ThisMary Adkins7h 35m3.7 (6.3K)$26 · $0.00
Breath of HeavenDeborah Raney9h 11m4.7 (759)$23
The Book of IllusionsPaul Auster10h 39m3.9 (27.2K)$29 · $0.00
Don't You EverMary Carter Bishop7h 11m4.0 (492)$24 · $0.00
Dr. FeelgoodChristian Keyes6h 11m4.1 (462)$17