In a debut novel devastating both in its sorrow and its beauty, Azerbaijani-American musician Ella Leya delves into the oppression of artists under the Soviet regime as well as the human spirit's unending capacity to follow art and music to freedom against all odds.
In 1979 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Leila epitomizes the perfect Soviet teenager. She proves her dedication to her government by competing for the glory of her homeland as a gifted concert pianist. Leila, daughter of a prominent oilman and born into privilege, lives a life with advantages, such as residence in a luxury apartment and access to music lessons. When Comrade Farhad, an important city committee member, judges Leila's attitude too elitist, she redeems herself by spying on a suspected capitalist sympathizer who runs a music shop.
Expecting corruption, she instead finds Tarhid, a passionate consumer and creator of art, music and literature whose time in the West opened his eyes to a liberated world. He unveils Communism's hypocrisy, showing her the poverty in their allegedly classless city and his family's sad history; he also introduces her to the smoky, forbidden flavor of jazz.
Leya captures a tense period in the history of a country that blended Turkish, Persian and Soviet cultures, where communist corruption mingled with the remnants of sharia law. She inexorably shrinks the cage around Leila until her wings beat at the bars and she must show that she is no canary but rather the Firebird of her homeland's folktales. Breathing music and color into the direst moments with her lyrical prose, Leya shows that she herself is a talent who cannot be confined. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads