A slim, stunning masterpiece depicting the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich—Julian Barnes's first novel since his Booker Prize-winning The Sense of an Ending.1936: Shostakovich, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain he will be exiled to Siberia (or, more likely, shot dead on the spot), he reflects on his predicament, his personal history, h