The Piano Tuner: A Novel
Daniel MasonA New York Times Notable Book
A San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, & Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year
“An ambitious, adventuresome, highly unusual first novel that offers pleasures too rarely encountered in contemporary American literary fiction. . . . [Mason is] a gifted, original & courageous writer.” — The Washington Post Book World
“Mason’s writing achieves that kind of reverie in which every vision, tone, flavor & sensation is magnified.” – Los Angeles Times
“The Piano Tuner is a haunting, passionate story of empire & individualism. . . . [Mason is] a gifted writer.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“This wondrous work of fiction . . . artfully weaves psychology, politics, medicine & music theory into a polyphonic composition. . . . A virtuoso performance.” – Newsday
“Daniel Mason’s ambitious, lyrical The Piano Tuner . . . [possesses] genuine moments of ominous beauty. . . . Readers . . . should be intrigued by the mix of historical detail, lush settings, & equally lush language.” – San Jose Mercury News
“A gripping & resonant novel. . . . It immerses the reader in a distant world with startling immediacy & ardor. . . . Riveting.” — Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
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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 & there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, & enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of storytelling.
°°°Daniel Mason is the author of North Woods, A Far Country, The Winter Soldier, & A Registry of My Passage Upon Earth. His writing has appeared in Harper’s Magazine & Lapham’s Quarterly.