Rather than write a conventional biography, Faber has chosen to investigate Antonio Stradivari by tracing the fortunes and changes in ownership of six of his finest surviving instruments. The stories here – of geniuses, frauds, and pacts with the devil – are terrific, and Faber writes with genuine enthusiasm for these extraordinary objects, regarded by those who play them as works of art in their own right.

Pan Macmillan | Paperback 295 pp. |ISBN: 9780330492591