Hey, it's Amp here's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong.

Kate Kennedy's book, Chello, is a nonfiction story about the lives of four fascinating cellists.

And it's interesting even if you don't care much about the cello, because these are stories about obsession, about loving something so much you're willing to travel the world to look for stories about

other people who are just as in love with that thing as you are.

Although, I'll say it will help if you do have some affinity for the cello, seeing as Kennedy

and NPR's Daniel Escherin are both cellists.

Listen to them talk cello, including a very special performance after the break.

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What better instrument than a cello, half thunder, half prayer, to listen to the world?

But what if that instrument falls silent?

That is from the opening line of cello, a new book from writer, BBC broadcaster, and cellist Kate Kennedy. She crisscrossed Europe

with her cello on a mission to tell the remarkable stories of four cellists and some lost

instruments. Chello is part detective story, part memoir, and really resonates with me because

I also play the cello. Kate Kennedy,

thanks so much for being here. Thank you for having me. It's a great pleasure to be here.

How do you tie the four cellists together in your book? What ties them together?

Well, I didn't really know what would tie them together until I got to the end of the book.

It was a genuine detective story for me.

But I found increasingly that it was things like absence and resilience and silence.

...