The Passion of Marta (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781977936196)

Caren Simon Umbarger has played the violin since the age of five. She earned a BA in violin performance from Hamline University and has been a professional musician, conductor and string teacher for more than 35 years. Her first novel, Coming To: A Midwestern Tale, won a 2011 Florida Book Award bronze medal for General Fiction. Caren is the owner of a beautiful old violin made in Nuremberg in 1782 by Leopold Widhalm that wound up being the inspiration for this story. In 2011, moments before shipping it off to be sold, Caren reconsidered. Rather than part with her old friend, she was compelled, instead, to write a book about it. The result, six years in the making, is her second novel, The Passion of Marta. Widhalm's violin graces both the front and back covers. The author's family heritage played a significant role in the confluence of ideas that brought forth Marta's story. Caren's maternal great-grandmother, Rosa Rohrbacher Schlesinger, was born in Jebenhausen, Germany, and emigrated to America at the age of 16. Her paternal grandfather, Dr. Frank Simon, was a renowned American band director and teacher, who enjoyed a long and celebrated career which included seven years as the principal cornet soloist and assistant conductor for John Phillip Sousa. Caren Umbarger is confident that Wilhelm's lady's violin holds more secrets and has further tales to tell. She and her husband live, work & play in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.