The magic piano

Mario is the youngest son of Kapitän Meier, an officer of the Wehrmacht, the Nazi army. We are in Prague in 1941 and Mario is twelve years old. His mother, who has recently died, played the piano in a "magical" way and taught it to her children, so the great pain that grips the heart of the Kapitän, leads to banning music in his house.

One day after school, Mario finds himself by chance in front of an old musical instrument shop in the Jewish quarter: from inside he can hear the notes of a melody that triggers his curiosity. By opening the door of the empty business, he still does not know that he is entering a magical world where he will live the most fantastic adventure he could have imagined. He will be fascinated by Darina, the granddaughter of the old luthier Geller. But he will also feel the icy breath of the sinister Doktor Wolfram Sievers -maximum head of the Ahnenerbe- who looks for supernatural objects for Hitler. Everything that happens from then on will help him discover what the Nazis are really doing, beyond what he had been touch at the German school.

Presented for the 2021 Edebé award in the children's section (from 7 to 12 years old), The Magic Piano manages to make young readers' fantasy fly, keep them glued to the book with its rhythm and leave them breathless with the twists of its adventures... up to the last page.