A Well-Tempered Heart (Art of Hearing Heartbeats) Trade paperback - 2014

   “Can you also hear heartbeats?”
   “No.”
   “Too bad.” Thar Thar looked at me. “I once knew someone who could tune a heart.”
   “Tune a heart?” I asked, wondering if I had understood him correctly.
   “Yes, like an instrument. If a heart was out of tune, he would retune it.”
   “How can a heart be out of tune?” I asked.
   Thar Thar cocked his head to the side and smirked. “The daughter of a heart listener really ought to know that.”
   Was he making fun of me?
   “Alas, there are many ways. Have you never heard of irregular heartbeats, rapid heartbeats, premature heartbeats? If life has made you mean, or if disappointments have made you as bitter as a slice of tamarind, your heart beats too deeply. If you are afraid, it starts to flutter like a young bird. If you are sad, it beats so slowly that a person might expect it to stop completely any minute. If your spirit is overwhelmed by confusion, it beats most irregularly. Is it different in America?”
   “No. But when we have arrhythmia we go to a cardiologist.”
   “That’s a different matter. They are mechanics of the heart. They have nothing to do with tuning a heart.”
   “How does one tune a heart?” I asked quietly.
   Thar Thar cleared his throat, stuck the knife into the cutting board, and fell silent. He did not answer.
   “Does it require a special gift?”
   He looked past me. His lower lip began to quiver.
   “What does it take to be a heart tuner? Who can do it? A magician? An astrologer?”
   He shook his head. Without a word.

***AMAZON.COM BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH SELECTION***

"An absolutely transcendent novel that doesn't just dare to understand the human heart, it inhabits it. About love, unspeakable loss, and coming to know what really saves us in life, this is the kind of stunningly perfect novel that changes lives. I know it did mine. To say I loved it is pure understatement." —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow

“Sendker’s follow-up to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats…opens readers’ eyes to a history of buried atrocities…[and] takes pains to develop a realistic world…”  —Publishers Weekly 

“An absorbing, moving sequel.” —Booklist

“In…Sendker’s sequel to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats…[Julia] returns to Burma…for further lessons in love.  Sendker [is] a mesmerizing storyteller.” —Kirkus

“Very literary, it is a story of emotion, of magic, of belief, of many kinds of love and of hope. Like the previous book, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, the sequel is beautifully written…in this series, the mystical elements are as important as the mundane…Many readers will find A Well-Tempered Heart incredibly beautiful and moving.” —RT Book Reviews

“Earnest and endearing, this just-arriving-in-translation sequel to the international mega-bestseller, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, is a through-the-night read that will leave you sighing and swooning…German journalist Jan-Philipp Sendker‘s novels somehow manage to provide a rare, cleansing catharsis…Just as her father followed his heart home, Julia is called back by a desperate stranger with impossible questions from the other side of the world…But before Julia can answer, she must learn in her own heart ”what is important”… might I add, surely a life lesson for us all.”—BookDragon 

“Sendker evokes Burma and the juxtaposition of simple rural lives against a threatening military that demands the lives of their sons—not even as soldiers but as human land mine sweepers—with prose that is lush and as mystical as the villagers’ beliefs.” —Gilmore Guide to Books

"Jan-Philipp Sendker delivers another intriguing tale with A Well-Tempered Heart." —RT Books

"When Jan-Philipp Sendker penned the sequel to his international bestseller The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, romantics worldwide breathed a sigh of relief. In this book readers have the chance to follow Julia Win, a Manhattan lawyer who stumbles upon a journey of self-reflection while picking up the pieces of her personal life. This story of love, loss, and understanding is sure to leave an impression on your heart." —Ladies Home Journal
 
"What begins as a problem-solving quest becomes a journey of self-discovery, sure to resonate with anyone who has ever sought to reinvent oneself." —Shelf Awareness

"...[L]ike poetry.  A story within a story, where the main characters are entwined...[A Well-Tempered Heart] will transport you to the spot where everything happens, then leave you breathless wanting more." —Serendipitous Readings
 
"A winning locale and a lost soul seeking something she is unsure of what make for a delightful sequel." —Genre Go Round Books
 
"[A] hauntingly beautiful sequel to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats... A Well-Tempered Heart touches the reader on many levels. It is a love story: love of a mother for her sons, love between a sister and brother, and love between a man and a woman." —The Freelance-Star

"Once again, author and translator alike, have magically strung a beautiful piece of writing together. This book, like it’s prequel is a beautifully written story with a lyrical style that leaves you wanting more." —Good Book Fairy

"[T]ruly an original, the author’s prose flawless and evocative." —Historical Novels Review

"Engagingly drawn." —BookPage

Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 he published Cracks in the Wall, a nonfiction book about China. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, his first novel, is an international best seller. He lives in Berlin with his family.

Kevin Wiliarty has a BA in German from Harvard and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. A native of the United States, he has also lived in Germany and Japan. He is currently an academic technician at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he lives with his wife and two children.