The Piano Man's Daughter - Softcover

Findley, Timothy

3.93

4,869 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155468479X ISBN 13: 9781554684793

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2009

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, a young piano tuner, Charlie Kilworth, faces two enigmatic questions: Who was his father? And, does he dare become a father himself, knowing that madness consumed his mother? A loving and magical tale, The Piano Man’s Daughter is a classic work by one of Canada’s most beloved writers.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

As the story opens, Lily, the heroine of Timothy Findley's Victorian-Gothic-style novel as seen through the narrative of her son Charlie, is ending her days in an asylum; her life unfolds as a Dickensian tale of deprivation and struggle between the feminine and the coldly masculine, leading to that "madwoman in the attic" denouement. Yet Charlie is reclaiming his mother's life through his loving telling of her story. "She could break your heart with that riveting gaze," he says. Music, vaudeville, and silent movies resonate through the lives in the novel, set in turn-of-the-century Toronto. Findley is a best-selling and award-winning Canadian writer, author of The Wars and Famous Last Words.

From the Back Cover:

In 1939, piano tuner Charlie Kilworth ponders two questions: who was his father? and, given the madness that consumed his mother Lily, does he dare become a father himself? His quest reveals more than he imagined about Lily, herself the daughter of a piano player, and her colourful, tormented life amid the lively characters and rich sense of early-twentieth-century Toronto.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.