As with all great stories, the first book of this glorious trilogy ended with many unanswered questions. Will the former Indian Scout Joshua Hotah find his parents? Painfully naïve, does the youthful Priscilla Kimball appreciate that she could succumb to unsolicited debauchery at any time? What are the true intentions of the enigmatic sociopath Csongor Toth? Will the strange partners of business Tseng Longwei and Roshan Kuznetsov ever find their way to Silver City? Now a Lutheran Pastor, Manfred Herrmann has survived the Civil War—but can he survive his own dark nature? And consider the calamitous adventures of Gordania Sinclair, the singular heroine of this tale. Her father never imagined that he was sending his beloved daughter into a world of murder, deception, and peril when he gave her a final hug in Scotland. These and many other questions will be answered. But you are hereby forewarned: this second book will end with an act of unspeakable evil that will test even the most courageous heart.

This collection considers the accordion and its myriad forms, from the concertina, button accordion, and piano accordion familiar in European and North American music to the exotic-sounding South American bandoneon and the sanfoninha. Capturing the instrument's spread and adaptation to many different cultures in North and South America, contributors illuminate how the accordion factored into power struggles over aesthetic values between elites and working-class people who often were members of immigrant and/or marginalized ethnic communities. Specific histories and cultural contexts discussed include the accordion in Brazil, Argentine tango, accordion traditions in Colombia, cross-border accordion culture between Mexico and Texas, Cajun and Creole identity, working-class culture near Lake Superior, the virtuoso Italian-American and Klezmer accordions, Native American dance music, and American avant-garde.