Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.

Lentil's harmonica playing saves the day when calamity threatens the homecoming celebration for the leading citizen of Alto, Ohio.

"Billy Boy Arnold, born in 1935, is one of the few native Chicagoans who both cultivated a career in the blues and stayed in Chicago. His perspective on Chicago's music, people, and places is rare and valuable. Arnold has worked with generations of musicians-from Tampa Red and Howlin' Wolf and to Muddy Waters and Paul Butterfield-on countless recordings, witnessing the decline of country blues, the dawn of electric blues, the onset of blues-inspired...

One day, as fate would have it, Zeke Pippin moseys outside, finds a harmonica in the street, and is soon regaling his family with the prelude to La Traviata. But when his mother, father, sister, and brother promptly fall asleep, Zeke wonders how he can "go on living with such nincompoops" -- and runs away from home. After several other would-be music lovers pass out when he starts to play, Zeke concludes that his harmonica has magical powers, and...