I’m a pianist, of sorts. I used to be really pretty good — not professional or anything, but good enough. But since I haven’t practiced regularly in years, I can only say I’m probably above average now. Enough to play when asked at church, but that’s about it.

But this book, by Susanne Dunlap, made me want to practice again.

I’m not sure that was her intended outcome…. it’s a historical romance and mystery (of sorts). It’s set in Paris during the cholera epidemic of 1832 (what’s it with me and French books?). Anne, the daughter of marquis de Barbier-Chouant, recently lost her mother to the cholera epidemic. Her mother’s friend, Marie d’Agoult, takes Anne under her wing in spite of Anne’s fathers’ disapproval. From there, she engages noted pianist and composer Franz Liszt to give Anne’s natural talent for the piano some polish. And from there, of course, things develop.

While the story itself was quite intriguing, the real power of this book, for me, was in it’s musical passages. My only regret is that I don’t know music well enough to know what “lively Schubert dances” or “sonata by Beethoven” or even the work by Chopin that Anne plays at her salon debut was. I feel like the book should have come with a CD of all the music played (I’m even deficient enough that I didn’t know which aria from Don Giovanni was being quoted at one point.) That said, though, I completely related with Anne’s relationship to the piano. She played to express herself. When she was heartbroken, she played. When she was angry, she played. When she was upset, she played. When she was happy, she played. In fact, the greatest harm her father ever did was shut her off from playing the piano. It was Anne’s desire for the piano that woke up my own latent pianist. When I finished this book, I dug out my Liszt and Chopin and Beethoven and spent a wonderful 20 minutes playing. (I would have spent longer, but that was as long as I got before K decided that she needed to practice with me, ending all my hopes for a long session.)

The other intriguing thing about this book was that it was told from at least five different points of view — there was Anne, Marie, Pierre (a medical student), Liszt, Armand (Anne’s cousin) and possibly others. Often an event would happen, and then the next section would back up and retell the same event from a different perspective. I have found that this is a hit and miss idea for me; sometimes it works, others it falls flat. This time, it worked. I enjoyed getting to know each of these characters, from the budding Anne, to the passionate Liszt, to the concerned doctor to the hesitant Armand, to the very intriguing and independent Marie. Each character had something interesting to contribute to the story and the story would have been less without each perspective.

I did know enough music history to know that the characters of Liszt (of course) and Marie were based historical figures. But, Dunlap managed not to let the history get in the way of the story. And she chose to make both Liszt and Marie less central to the story, which also allowed the other characters to shine through.

In all, a wonderful way to spend a summer day.