"'You could say,’ Vere mused, ‘that, looking at it from one angle, you’re having an amazing Russian literary experience.’"

In the TLS's recent Booker 50th anniversary edition, various past winners were asked about underrated authors that should have featured more in the prize's reckoning. Thomas Keneally suggested: "William Boyd is a consistently pleasing and illuminating writer. He made it onto the Booker shortlist once with An Ice-Cream War, and – to be honest – should have won it."
(https://the-tls.co.uk/articles/public...)

This commendation drew me to Boyd's new novel, Love is Blind, but I would be very surprised if it caused this year's panel to tary long in their deliberations.

It's a straightforward (overly so) historical romance, set around the turn of the 19th Century around Europe, particularly in Scotland, Russia, Paris and the French coast (Nice, Biarritz).

In the late 1890s, Brodie Moncur is an expert piano tuner, working for a Edinburgh based piano manufacturer, and when the chance arises for him to move to Paris to try to reinvigorate their showroom there he grasps it with both hands. There he meets and forms a business venture with John Kilbarron–“The Irish Liszt” - a brilliant pianist but with fading powers, but their professional relationship is soured as Brodie falls in love with Kilbarron's muse, the soprano Lika Brum. As the novel progresses, Moncur travels across Europe, finding work wherever he goes, following Lika, and pursued in turn by Kilbarron's vengeful brother and business manager, Malachi.

"Not for the first time he gave thanks to the universal nature of his profession. Wherever there were pianos he could find work, one way or another."

Boyd's descriptive prose is his strong point, conjuring up the sights and sounds of the places and time:

"The dog cart clip-clopped through the village and led them past the church, St Mungo’s, still looking new – pure Gothic Revival with flying buttresses, finials wherever a finial could be placed and a tall bell tower with no steeple. Its rowan- and yew-dotted cemetery was crowded with ancient graves, former parishioners, the late, good folk of the Liethen Valley. Then they turned into the gravelled carriage drive of the manse, set in a wide dark garden filled with ornamental conifers – monkey puzzles, larches and cedars – and beech trees. Beeches grew well in the Liethen Valley soil."

And he - via Lika's observation - particularly effectively compares the Scottish highlands to the Russian steppe:

"I feel I could be travelling through a Russian village, so isolated, you know? The mood , the landscape. These small , low houses. The poverty. It’s different, of course, but somehow it makes me feel back home."

But Boyd is rather less successful conveying the historical background to the era, which is simply dropped in as lists of background events whenever Brodie picks up a newspaper:

"He read about the continuing animosities of the Dreyfus Affair, the celebrations being organized around Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the economic tribulations facing President McKinley , and a review of a shocking new novel called Dracula."

And the plot itself, while a reasonable page turner, was a little overwrought and contrived for my literary taste.

A couple of particular bugbears for me in the book - although in each case one hopes the author was aware even if the characters aren't.

First, at one key point, Brodie's tyrannical father, Malky Moncur, a famously impassioned, if rather hypocritical, preacher, bases a sermon on an Apocryphal text to indirectly condemn his son: but the verses quoted bear no resemblance to any version of Baruch 6 I have seen (did Malky simply invent them? or Boyd?)

"Regulars turned the pages of their Bibles looking for the verses that Malky had chosen as his text for his sermon. It was, Brodie saw, very obscure, even for Malky. From the Apocrypha, the Book of Baruch, chapter six , verses ten to twelve. He could see people vainly flicking through their Bibles, searching for it.
...
‘Now, whereof Nerias knew that his son Sedacius was caught in the snares of harlots and indeed had lusted after his brother’s wife, Ruth, and his brother’s daughter, Esther, and showed no remorse, yet Nerias suffered his son to live in his own house, yea, and fed him and his servants also. For Nerias, the Levite, was a righteous man. And the people saw the wisdom of the righteous man and Sedacius was spurned by the Levites, they spake not of him. There was a void, thereof. He was forgotten as a cloud melted by the force of the noonday sun, as smoke dispersed by a breeze. He was shadowless, a nothing, less than a mote of dust.’"

The second bothered me more. As Brodie and Lika travel around, the novel tells us "between them, they made a modest living, supplemented by their nights gambling with the martingale system in Biarritz’s casino."

Brodie describes his 'foolproof' system:

"I only played roulette – you know what a hopeless gambler I am. I played a simple martingale system: doubling my stake (2 fr) when I lost and pocketing my winnings when I won. You only bet on 2 to 1 odds. Red or black, odd or even. By the law of averages you will win at some stage. The only strange thing – if you double your stake each time you lose – is that sometimes you can be betting 40 francs to win 2 – so you need a substantial float."

Except of course this system is based on a mathematical fallacy. Even if the chances of winning were genuinely 2-to-1 (in practice, roulette is biased to the house) the expected winnings are zero. The last sentence highlights why - you don't just need a 'substantial float', you need an infinite one (and a casino prepared to extend you infinite credit lines). Sooner or later, the gambler will lose his entire float, the losses from which will balance out the modest winnings. I assumed that the flaw in the system would ultimately form a key plot point - but when it didn't it caused me to wonder if the author saw the flaw.

Overall, a pleasant but not particularly stimulating read. 3 stars less one for the dubious scriptural and mathematical references.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Brodie Moncur is a piano tuner when we first meet him, working for Channons in Edinburgh at the end of the 19th century and struggling in his relationship with his domineering father. When an opportunity arises for Brodie to work in Paris, he leaves Scotland and embarks on new challenges and a romance that takes him on further travels, to St Petersburg and various other places in turn of the century Europe.

Boyd's writing about place is captivating - I really loved the descriptions of St Petersburg and Paris in particular. The whole novel felt very immersive as the reader follows Brodie through his career and choices, the ups and downs feeling both realistic and natural. The novel is also well paced and kept my interest to the end, although I'll admit that I was disappointed with the ending - without giving any spoilers, I just thought it would be more interesting given what had gone before.

Overall, this is a novel that sweeps through turn of the century Europe with an engaging protagonist and lots to keep the reader interested. It's beautifully written and well researched throughout, although my impressions of the book were coloured by my reaction to the final scenes.

This new novel by William Boyd doesn’t disappoint. He is so good at transporting the reader to different places and eras, with evocative writing that summons the sights, smells and the feel of a place. This time the era is the end of the 19th century and the place Scotland and then mainland Europe.

Brodie Moncur is a piano tuner who moves from Edinburgh to Paris and falls in love with a Russian singer, Lyka. They are forced to flee as they are pursued by the brother of the man Lydia has betrayed. The relationship between Brodie and his bullying father is explored alongside the passion of Brodie and Lyka.

It is a long novel, but I never found it less than fascinating. Its sublety echoes the subtlety of the work of the piano tuner, making small small changes to achieve perfection. Definitely recommended.

Lovely read, draws you in to really care about the characters, just the right amount of intrigue to be interesting and realistic!

Love is Blind by William Boyd is a truly memorable story with wonderful characterization. His colourful writing instantly transports the reader to Scotland at the end of the nineteenth century and continues the journey through mainland Europe at a time of great change and gathering turmoil in the years immediately preceding the 1st World War.

Brodie Moncur is a piano tuner in the employ of Channons of Edinburgh and when the opportunity is offered to manage the Paris store he readily agrees. Brodie is an ambitious and proactive manager and believes that the best way to expand and promote the "Channon" brand is to employ the services of piano virtuoso John Kilbarron thus advancing the Company's pianos throughout Europe. This association leads to a fateful meeting between Brodie and the beautiful alluring Russian singer Lydia Blum, Kilbarrons on off girlfriend. A passionate clandestine affair develops that results in Brodie and Lydia fleeing from city to city hotly pursued by Malachi Kilbarron seeking revenge for his wronged brother.

I often think that the mark of a good story is the author's ability to take me the reader with him on a journey of discovery, to remove from the mundanity of modern living and surround me with the smells, sounds and excitement of the animated world he is describing. We therefore enter the preserve of piano virtuoso's at a time in history when piano use and production was at its highest and live performances although the privilege of the wealthy still attracted a mass following. Welcome to a place where the combustion engine has made an entrance, where consumption has destroyed the lives of young and old, and when true gentlemen resolved their differences by resorting to a dueling contest.

An exciting story brilliantly executed by one of England's greatest living authors..Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review, and that is what I have written. Highly Recommended

William Boyd's latest novel Love is Blind is aptly named. It shows us what people will do for love, the secrets they keep and what they choose not to see. Like Any Human Heart, this epic takes us around the world as it emerges into the twentieth century. Horse-drawn carriages make way for motor cars, but love affairs are as complicated as ever.
Brodie Moncur is a gifted piano tuner and a romantic. He longs to leave his dour upbringing behind for a life of possibilities in Paris. Brodie goes to work for a piano manufacturer in Paris. His bright ideas bring success for the company but jealousy from his corrupt manager. A chance meeting with an opera singer will change his life forever, and not necessarily for the better. Hand in hand with love are terrible betrayals both artistic and romantic.
Love is Blind succeeds not just as a great story but as a social history. Hausmann is building the Paris we recognise today. Social unrest is unfolding across Europe. Old empires are fading away. As the world becomes more known, the old ways must be catalogued before they disappear.
Brodie's love causes him to travel the world, never settling for long. Through his eyes we see beautiful sights, and experience depths of emotion. Boyd's superior storytelling keeps us gripped until the end.