Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2019
208 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An exceptional debut novel that explores the stifled, unspoken feelings of a music teacher and his former student, and the damage done by their years of silence.
Hermin, a composer and instructor, leads a secluded life near the Bourbonnais Mountains in France, composing an homage to Schubert. On a bitter January night, this studious peace is broken when his former pupil, Lenny, a piano prodigy, mysteriously knocks at his door. The two men must confront the ghosts of their past, somewhere between musical harmony, erotic tension, and revelation.
Wanderer, echoing Schubert's recurring theme, is a novel of rare delicacy, a twilight adagio, a Winterreise, and a subtle ode to German Romanticism.
"Starred Review. Léon's innovative blending of events across time and her delicate emotional precision make for a bewitching, immersive experience." - Publishers Weekly
"[Wanderer] treats the relationship between the two men with a delicacy that is unexpectedly moving." - Kirkus
"The German word Wanderer means 'traveler.' This romantic figure of the vagabond infuses this delicate and poetic story, which favors harsh winter nights." - L'Express Styles (France)
"This is a first novel as visual as it is musical, which reads in one go and leaves behind another beautiful melody: that of a new talent blossoming." - Luxemburger Wort (Luxemburg)
"A story of reunion between musicians. A story of friendship between two men. A tribute to the great German Romanticism. All in a light, refined prose imbued with winter tones." - La Montagne (France)
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sarah Léon was born in 1995 and studied literature and musicology at l'École Normale Supérieure in Paris. She won the 2012 Prix Clara for her novella, "Mon Alban."
John Cullen is the translator of many books from Spanish, French, German, and Italian, including Philippe Claudel's Brodeck, Juli Zeh's Decompression, Chantal Thomas's The Exchange of Princesses, and Kamel Daoud's The Meursault Investigation. He lives in upstate New York.
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