The Violin Conspiracy: A Novel
Brendan Slocumb
“[A] galvanizing blend of thriller, coming-of-age drama, and probing portrait of racism ... This flawless debut will do for classical music what The Queen's Gambit did for chess.” —Booklist
Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. If he’s lucky, he’ll get a job at the hospital cafeteria. If he’s extra lucky, he’ll earn more than minimum wage. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world...
Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, & holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin & viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public & private school music educator & has performed with orchestras throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland, & Washington, D.C.