In this deeply moving memoir of loss, friendship and craft, Jim McKean shows what happens when long-time rivals set their egos aside and work together to memorialize the life of a dear friend—through the centuries-old art of violinmaking. Told in eloquent, honest prose, Art’s Cello is a story about coming to terms with the past and letting go of the failures we allow to define us—and, in the process, honoring the lives of those we’ve lost. Jim McKean is an international award-winning violinmaker, author, and corresponding editor of Strings Magazine. He is a graduate of the first violinmaking school in America and the former president of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. His novel, Quattrocento, was published in 2002. Cover design by Evan Twohy.