The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be...until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of.

Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father's past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will change her life once more.

“'A truly beautiful story that will captivate and thaw the coldest of hearts' - We Love This Book 'A magical tale to capture your imagination' - My Weekly 'Touching and affecting prose' - Sunday Herald”

'Touching and affecting prose'

Sunday Herald

'The story tore my mind and my heart apart and pieced both back together numerous times'

Buzzfeed

'A magical tale to capture your imagination'

My Weekly

'Part detective story, part travelogue, this poetically written novel is - above all - a love story… some will want to read it again and again'

Reader's Digest

'his love story spanning distance and decades had me hooked within a few pages'

Global Atlanta

'One of the most beautiful books I’ve read. I cried my eyes out!'

USA Today

'filled with imagination'

EU PNJ

'[The Art of Hearing Heartbeats] is a love story set in Burma…imbued with Eastern spirituality and fairy-tale romanticism…Fans of Nicholas Sparks and/or Elizabeth Gilbert should eat this up'

Kirkus Reviews

'A very tender, special love story with beautiful characters in a far away and almost mysterious country ... A wonderful book, giving you a feeling of both, happiness and deep emotions that stay with you for a long time after you have read the last page. A heart-warming, sun-drenched story for a rainy Sunday'

-- Ursula Zanger, Bookseller, Orell Füssli, The Bookshop, Zurich

'Sweetly tragic'

Library Journal

'No matter what I even attempt to say, I can’t possibly capture the absolute magic of this book. Like a spell, it haunts. Like love, it’s going to endure'

-- Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

'Already a huge hit in Europe, Sendker’s debut is a lush tale of romance and family set in mid-twentieth century Burma….A beautiful tale bound to enchant readers'

Booklist

'A truly beautiful story that will captivate and thaw the coldest of hearts'

We Love This Book

'Magical...It’s stories like The Art of Hearing Heartbeats that show how our very existence is important...What a gift that is'

Huffington Post

'delightful, gripping, heartwarming'

Sahara of London

Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent forSternfrom 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. He has travelled extensively in China and Burma and has an in-depth knowledge of the people and culture. Global bestsellerThe Art of Hearing Heartbeatswas his first novel.

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be...until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father's past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will change her life once more.

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