On the cover of the book is the comment by Elie Wiesel: “Frances Brent’s wonderful book movingly allows Lev Aronson’s Lost Cellos to sing again of dark times and profound yearning.” This sums up this poetic biography very well.

Frances Brent’s story of Lev Aronson ranges from the pogroms before the Soviet Revolution, the Soviet oppression of Jews and then the treatment of Jews by the Germans during WWII. But it is also the story of how the human spirit struggles against these trials and endeavors to rise above them. It shows the struggle for life even in the most devastating conditions and how we endeavor to go on even when there seems to be no hope.

Frances Brent is a poet and this becomes apparent in the gracefulness of her writing and in the way she presents the story. Lev Aronson was a musician whose destiny for a world class solo career was derailed by being imprisoned and put to heavy labor by the Nazis. Often it appeared to me that one of the things that helped Lev survive this ordeal was the music that was inside him. His story is a tribute to the impulse for life in the midst of incredible suffering. Highly Recommended ( )