A sequel to the recently published The Empress Letters, this is an essential follow-up volume.

Based on the musical term meaning ‘stolen time,’ Tempo Rubato is a concerto of passion that moves between past and present, Western and Eastern culture, exploring the meaning of identity and love. Continuing the saga of the Von Stronheim family of Victoria, BC, this second novel of a trilogy by Linda Rogers, centres on Precious Von Stronheim, daughter of the main character of the previous volume The Empress Letters. A renowned cellist in the touring Oak Bay Quartet, we meet Precious after years abroad, settled again in the waterfront mansion where she was raised. Now living with her violinist husband, Heath, and their deaf daughter Lily, Precious realizes she is pregnant with a second child. Worried that the birth of this child could spell the end of her family and the world she loves, Precious wonders if the baby will reveal the hidden origins she has kept secret and if her marriage can survive that deception. Precious questions whether this pregnancy will atone for past tragedies or continue the curse she believe afflicts her family. Like an intricate oriental brocade, Tempo Rubato weaves strands of culture and personal history into a fascinating celebration of music, identity and love. Caught in the echoes of past loss and the plaintive melodies of the East, Precious at last comes to terms with the present moment and the enduring nature of love.

Linda Rogers is an award-winning poet and the former poet laureate of Victoria, BC. She also writes novels, articles and song lyrics. Sheis a past Poet Laureate for Victoria. Her recent publications include: Homing, poetry from Ekstasis Editions, and The Carter Vanderbilt Carter Anthology 2014, from Exile Editions. She is a recipient of the Gwendolyn MacEwen Award, 2013, and the Montreal Broadside Prize, 2012. In addition to the Empress Trilogy, current projects include co-writing The Arioso Games with Ben Murray and Bozuk, a travel novel.