Love Is Blind

August 6, 2018
Boyd’s lively 15th novel (following Sweet Caress) careens across the world following a consumptive, dueling, romantic piano tuner named Brodie Moncur. In a wild story whose prose reads as if written in 1888 (the year in which it is set), this seasoned author’s handsome protagonist flees his oppressive Scottish family, first to Edinburgh, where he goes to work for Channon & Co. Sent to Paris by his boss, Ainsley Channon, to boost piano sales, Brodie’s career is sabotaged by Channon’s thieving son, Calder. Brodie is then approached by pianist John Kilbarron, the “Irish Liszt,” and Kilbarron’s evil brother, Malachi, who convince him to travel with them to Russia, having discovered he can tune Kilbarron’s piano to mask a painful weakness in the maestro’s right hand. As time goes on, however, Brodie falls in love with Kilbarron’s mistress, Russian singer Lika Blum. When their affair, Lika’s secretiveness, and a musical betrayal stir up trouble, Brodie flees the Kilbarrons and Russia. Complicating matters is Brodie’s tuberculosis, a constant threat that dials up the book’s tension and, along with an old-fashioned duel in St. Petersburg, allows the author a few action scenes. This man-on-the-run tale, which wraps up at one exotic end of the Earth, is strangely ageless and very entertaining.

You won't want to miss Roy McMillan's performance of William Boyd's engrossing novel of obsession, passion, betrayal, and piano tuning. Scotsman Brodie Moncur is a piano tuner with perfect pitch and many professional tricks up his sleeve who is much in demand by concert pianists because of his magical touch. McMillan's diction perfectly reproduces the ambiance of the nineteenth century with its flourishes and excesses. It's no surprise that Brodie is hopelessly, floridly smitten the moment he meets Russian opera singer Lika. Lika is the girlfriend of renowned pianist John Kilbarron, "the Irish Liszt," and, after Brodie is falsely accused of embezzlement, he becomes Kilbarron's personal piano tuner. As the inevitable Lika-Brodie affair occurs, McMillan delivers the continually twisting plot and its revelations with elegance. An intriguing listening. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine