A Harvest of Thorns
Book
A beloved American corporation with an explosive secret. A disgraced former journalist looking for...
James Bagshaw recommended track Rainbow Chaser by Nirvana UK in All of Us by Nirvana UK in Music (curated)
When the Skies Rained Freedom
Book
Captivating, gripping and relentlessly authentic...inspired by eyewitness accounts. To this day,...
Historical Fiction World War II Germany
Buildings Must Die: A Perverse View of Architecture
Stephen Cairns and Jane M. Jacobs
Book
Buildings, although inanimate, are often assumed to have "life." And the architect, through the act...
An Army of One: A John Rossett Novel
Book
In this enthralling historical thriller set in post-World War II London, detective John Henry...
Brixton Beach
Book
Opening dramatically with the horrors of the 2005 London bombings, this is the profoundly moving...
The Island of Missing Trees
Book
It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a...
Historical Fiction Magical Realism Literary Fiction Cyprus Turkey London
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Letters to the Pianist in Books
Nov 19, 2019
14 year old Ruth Goldberg lives with her family in the East End of London during the Second World War with her parents and younger sister and brother. Her life isn't perfect by any means but at least she has her family. When their house takes a direct hit from a German bomb, the children are orphaned and cast adrift to live with strangers.
Meanwhile a man is found in the rubble following the bombing, suffering from total amnesia, who is given the name Edward because cannot even remember his own. He does discover that he is an enormously skilled pianist and soon becomes famous and also rich after marrying the daughter of a well-connected aristocrat millionaire.
The story follows Ruth, her siblings and Edward through the war years and beyond as that one bombing raid changed all their lives forever. Some will find their new lives hold unexpected - even deadly - dangers and all will come to know love and friendship as well as loss and betrayal.
Mayes writes this novel with confidence, moving smoothly between the story lines as they unfold and intertwine. She makes the reader really feel the emotions the characters are going through, good or bad. Edward's story is particularly effective as his previous life slowly starts to come to light and the man he was isn't the person either those around him or Edward himself is comfortable with.
As with her previous book, Stop The World, although very different in subject matter this story is just as deeply affecting and once again I'm sure it will stay with me for some time.
The Spring of Kasper Meier
Book
Shortlisted for the Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award 2015 Winner...
Germany: Memories of a Nation
Book
From Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany...