Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong to work as a piano teacher and also begins a fateful affair. But their affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. In 1942, Englishman Will Truesdale falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. Lee's debut novel is a tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, Janice Y.K. In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma to repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design.įrom this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of storytelling. And The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander tells a story of a piano that connects two women across continents and decades.įinally, explore the psyche of a woman pianist and composer in 1830s Vienna in A Woman of Note by Carol M. Debut novelist Patricia Morrisroe brings us The Woman in the Moonlight about the dynamic passion that inspired Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

For a change of pace, check out the riveting story of a concert pianist stricken with ALS in Every Note Played by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova.īarbara Linn Probst's second novel, The Sound Between the Notes, is a gripping story about second chances. Lee.ĭo you love jazz? The Jazz Palaceby Mary Morris is the story of a jazz pianist in boomtown 1920s Chicago. Read about a piano tuner in 1880s Burma in The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, and a piano teacher in post-war Hong Kong in The Piano Teacherby Janice Y.K. Usually, that does the trick! My life-long love of the piano inspired me to write my second novel, A Woman of Note, which is included in this blog.īelow are eight of several novels listed on Art In Fiction that feature the piano. Often, when a plot issue plagues me, I go downstairs to my piano and lose myself in a few Bach inventions. My preferred composers are Bach and Haydn because they help me to think. I have been playing piano since I was five years old and I still play almost every day. No wonder numerous authors have been inspired by the piano and the people who play it. Its 88 black and white keys are capable of producing a dizzying array of sounds-from the crashing chords of a Beethoven sonata to the lightning speed and gossamer touch of jazz great Art Tatum. Since its invention in Italy around 1700, the piano-or pianoforte-has captivated and challenged musicians and composers.

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee