A sweeping new novel that unfolds across fin-de-siècle Europe as it tells a story of ineffable passions - familial, artistic, romantic - and their power to shape, and destroy, a life.
Brodie Moncur is a brilliant piano tuner, as brilliant in his own way as John Kilbarron - "The Irish Liszt" - the pianist Brodie accompanies on all of his tours from Paris to Saint Petersburg, as essential to Kilbarron as the pianist's own hands. It is a luxurious life, and a level of success Brodie could hardly have dreamed of growing up in a remote Scottish village, in a household ruled by a tyrannical father. But Brodie would gladly give it all up for the love of the Russian soprano Lika Blum: beautiful, worldly, seductive - and consort to Kilbarron. And though seemingly doomed from the start, Brodie's passion for her only grows as their lives become increasingly more intertwined, more secretive, and, finally, more dangerous - what Brodie doesn't know about Lika, and about her connection to Kilbarron and his sinister brother, Malachi, eventually testing not only his love for her but his ability, and will, to survive.
"Starred Review. Reading this masterly novel from Boyd is like easing into a comfortable prose chair. The language, story, and setting all converge in a richly satisfying human drama; highly recommended." - Library Journal
"This man-on-the-run tale, which wraps up at one exotic end of the Earth, is strangely ageless and very entertaining." - Publisher's Weekly
"Boyd beautifully paints the settings and the moods they evoke while sending readers on Brodie's adventurous, troublesome, and transformative journey." - Booklist
"All for Love or The Road Not Taken might have served as alternate titles for this largely good-humored, not especially deep-digging, quality entertainment." - Kirkus
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series. His books have won many literary awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and the Costa Book Award. He was named a Granta Best Young Novelist in 1983, and in 2005, he was awarded the CBE. Boyd is married and divides his time between London and southwest France.

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