The Choirmaster of Waverly Hills

A doctor uses music to raise his patients’ spirits, while struggling with faith and love, in this novel set during America’s worst tuberculosis epidemic.

1926. In the wake of the Great War and the Spanish flu pandemic, a tuberculosis outbreak ravaged Kentucky’s Jefferson County. Those suffering from the incurable disease were sent to the Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanitorium on the outskirts of Louisville. Some patients endured intrusive surgical procedures to try to prevent the bacteria’s spread, but most were simply made comfortable with little chance of recovery. At the outbreak’s peak, a Waverly patient died every hour. 

Dr. Wolfgang Pike understands suffering. As a child he survived polio even as it left its mark on his body. He has not let his distorted foot and pronounced limp stop him from alleviating other people’s pain—in both body and spirit. Before devoting himself to medicine, Wolfgang pursued a calling with the Catholic Church, only to fall in love and marry. Now a widower, he plans to take his vows once the epidemic subsides.

But more patients arrive daily, adults and children, segregated by race in separate hospitals. Waverly is understaffed and overwhelmed. Bootleggers smuggle their illegal wares across the property even as the Ku Klux Klan vandalizes it. The only thing that eases tensions is the melodies Wolfgang plays on various instruments. When a cynical concert pianist is admitted, Wolfgang is inspired to unite all the patients not only in their shared affliction, but in their shared love of music. And in his efforts to heal their hearts and souls, Wolfgang will face the darkness of his past and feel the light that his future promises. 

“A compelling and thought-provoking novel that will move and inspire readers of all kinds.” —John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road 

Previously published as A White Wind Blew