Book Review: ‘The Great Passion’: A Youth’s Introduction to the World of Bach

Book Review: ‘The Great Passion’: A Youth’s Introduction to the World of Bach
St. Thomas Church where Bach served as choir master and is the setting for "The Great Passion" by James Runcie. Christian Draghici/Shutterstock
Anita L. Sherman
Updated:
Classical music fans will relish this read. Anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one will understand the depths of grief portrayed.
Together, the two major themes of glorious sound and unbearable sorrow fuse to create a heartfelt and moving narrative. Readers will be refreshed and renewed by this inspiring and faith-filled story set in Germany during the 1700s.

A Child’s Grief

Heartstrings will immediately be pulled at the book’s beginning, where we find the grieving 13-year-old Stefan Silbermann. An only child, he has lost his mother. Stefan’s father, no doubt grieving himself, sends his son to a distant school, St. Thomas in Leipzig, advising him not to dwell too heavily on his mother and to embrace a new environment where he can study and learn.
Anita L. Sherman
Anita L. Sherman
Author
Anita L. Sherman is an award-winning journalist who has more than 20 years of experience as a writer and editor for local papers and regional publications in Virginia. She now works as a freelance writer and is working on her first novel. She is the mother of three grown children and grandmother to four, and she resides in Warrenton, Va. She can be reached at [email protected]
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