Steven Galloway

Snipers in the hills overlook half the intersections in Sarajevo. In the streets below, two inhabitants, Dragan and Kenan, trapped, like all their neighbours, in the city, strive to go about their daily lives, trying to second guess when and where the next bullet will strike.One man, a cellist, defies this game of 'Sarajevo Roulette'; in memory of the city's dead, for 22 consecutive days, he becomes a sitting target as he plays Albinoni's 'Adagio' in the street outside his building. Unbeknown to him, one young woman watches his performances with unflinching attention.Tense and heart-wrenching to its last page, "The Cellist of Sarajevo" shows how life under siege creates agonizing and almost impossible choices. When the mere act of crossing the street can risk lives, the human spirit is revealed in all its fortitude - and frailty.