Exile Music

Jennifer Steil’s engrossing historical fiction book “Exile Music” explores a little-known aspect of World War II history. The narrative centers on Orly, a young Jewish girl whose family escapes intelligent, urbane Vienna in search of safety in the Bolivian highlands. Orly’s perfect upbringing in Vienna in the 1930s is centered around music. Her tranquil existence is upended in 1938 with the arrival of the Germans.

Her family obtains refugee status and travels to La Paz, where they encounter difficulties and are troubled by the music they are unable to perform. In the context of conflict and displacement, the book deftly examines themes of identity, love, and the tug of the past.