Steffi, a ninth grader living in a small Swedish town, is the target of a local bully and finds attending school a miserable experience. Yet, she loves music, specifically jazz, which also serves as her refuge. A jazz bassist, Steffi is sensitive and inquisitive, searching for people who understand and accept her. One afternoon on her walk home from school, Steffi hears jazz music coming from the window of a retirement home and decides to investigate. There she meets Alvar, a jazz musician who came of age during World War II. The two form a special friendship, with Alvar sharing stories from his youth and encouraging Steffi to audition for a music school in Stockholm. Through their friendship, Steffi sees beyond her current situation to the possibilities to come.

Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) Book Award Honor Book 2019, Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year.

Author lives in Sweden.

Sweden. Originally published in Sweden as Hjarta av jazz by Piratforlaget in 2013. English translation by Laura A. Wideburg published in the United States by Flatiron Books in 2017.