Selden Edwards is not a youngster although this is his first work of fiction. Amazingly, he pulls off a time-bending narrative in which grandmother as a college student; father, a young soldier; and son, an accomplished musician meet in Vienna in 1897. Their shared love for fin de siècle Vienna draws them together and strengthens their emotional connections. They meet Sigmund Freud, listen to the Mahler’s first performances, and hang out with young philosophers in coffee houses, even as the wars to come are foreshadowed by an evil Vienna politician who has found that anti-Semitism wins votes. The combination of dynamic characters and a magical setting offers wide appeal to reader.