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A Memoir of Many Careers in Music
Knopf
December 2010
On Sale: November 30, 2010
Featuring: Leon Fleisher
336 pages
ISBN: 038552918X
EAN: 9780385529181
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
The stirring memoir of one of the greatest pianists of the postwar eraβan inspiring tale of triumph over crippling incapacity that rivals Shine. The pianist Leon Fleisherβwhose studentβteacher lineage linked him to Beethoven by way of his instructor, Artur Schnabelβdisplayed an exceptional gift from his earliest years. And then, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, he was struck down in his prime: at thirty-six years old, he suddenly and mysteriΒously became unable to use two fingers of his right hand. It is not just Fleisherβs thirty-year search for a cure that drives this remarkable memoir. With his coauthor, celebrated music critic Anne Midgette, the pianist explores the depression that engulfed him as his condition worsened and, perhaps most powerfully of all, the sheer love of music that rescued him from complete self-destruction. Miraculously, at the age of sixty-six, Fleisher was diagnosed with focal dystonia, and cured by experimental Botox injections. In 2003, he returned to Carnegie Hall to give his first two-handed recital in over three decades, bringing down the house. Sad, reflective, but ultimately triumphant, My Nine Lives comΒbines the glamour, pathos, and courage of Fleisherβs life with real musical and intellectual substance. Fleisher embodies the resilience of the human spirit, and his memoir proves that true passion always finds a way.
 Media BuzzPBS News Hour - July 18, 2011
Diane Rehm Show - NPR - December 6, 2010
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