The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

In 1992 the city of Sarajevo was besieged by Serbs who objected to the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovia, wanting instead to incorporate the area into a new Serbian state. Based on a real story, Galloway's novel has the cellist sitting in the middle of a street and playing the cello for about twenty minutes on each of twenty-nine days to honor twenty-nine of his neighbors who had been killed there by Serbian bombs. The reader is taken into the every day struggles of the besieged by following the activities of a man trying to cross the city to fetch water, a baker who buys shelter with bread, and a sniper assigned to protect the cellist. This is a good read which provides insight into conditions most of us are blessed not to have to experience.