Love Is Blind: A novel

Written by William Boyd

Narrated by Roy McMillan

When he is hired as the personal piano tuner for a brilliant pianist, Brodie Moncur suddenly finds himself swept up into a life of luxury that he could never have imagined. But while accompanying his new employer on tours from Paris to St. Petersburg, Brodie falls madly in love with the Russian soprano Lika Blum: beautiful, worldly, seductive—and forbidden. Though seemingly doomed from the start, Brodie’s passion for Lika only grows as their lives become increasingly more intertwined, more secretive, and, finally, more dangerous. A tale of dizzying passion and brutal revenge; of artistic endeavor and the illusions it can create; of the possibilities that life offers and the cruel speed with which they can be snatched away, Love Is Blind is a dazzling work of historical fiction that unfolds across fin de siècle Europe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984841452

William Boyd

William Boyd is also the author of A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys War Prize and short-listed for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year; Ordinary Thunderstorms; and Waiting for Sunrise, among other books. He lives in London.

Reviews for Love Is Blind

[pdebolt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

William Boyd is an extraordinary wordsmith. This aptly-named novel is rich in plot and characters. It is the story of Brodie Moncur at the end of the 19th century when he is 24 years old. He works for the Channon Piano Company as a skilled piano tuner in their Edinburgh showroom. He comes from a large family headed by his father, a cruel fundamentalist minister. We follow Brodie as his expertise and innovative ideas are soon recognized by the owner of the company, and he is moved to the Paris office. Unfortunately, Brodie contracts tuberculosis, which plagues him throughout his life.
He soon becomes obsessed with a Russian opera singer named Lika. Lika is the paramour of his most important customer, John Kilbarron. Brodie is forced to leave the Channon Piano Company when the owner's son falsely accuses him of embezzlement. He then follows the Kilbarron brothers and Lika on their tours of France, Switzerland and Russia while his surreptitious love affair with Lika becomes increasingly passionate. Malachi Kilbarron is an increasingly ominous presence in Brodie's life and career.
This novel gets better as it progresses when layers of tension are revealed. The numerous literary and historical references add additional interest, and the ending is unexpected.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Brodie Moncur, the protagonist of William Boyd's 2018 novel “Love Is Blind,” has perfect pitch, leading to a successful career as a piano tuner in late 19th century Europe when the piano industry is highly competitive and live musical events are a prime source of entertainment. He proves much less capable of keeping his own life in tune, especially after Lika Blum walks into it.

Brodie is hired by John Kilbarron, a gifted pianist, to tour with him and keep his pianos in perfect condition for his own needs, complicated by the fact that Kilbarron has a weak right hand that requires keys sensitive to the lightest touch. Brodie falls in love with the pianist's Russian mistress, Lika, who wants to become a great opera singer but lacks the necessary talent. Kilbarron mostly ignores her, making it possible for her and Brodie to begin a secret affair.

The bigger problem proves to be Malachi Kilbarron, John's brother, who manages the pianist's career and includes keeping an eye on Lika as one of his responsibilities. Strangely Lika seems more connected to and more fearful of Malachi than John, yet she declines to tell Brodie why. And she refuses to marry him when they finally are able to run away together.

A further complication is that Brodie develops tuberculosis, at a time when that is a death sentence.

Brodie has opportunities to retreat to a simpler life in a warm climate that would be better both for his health and his peace of mind. But, as Boyd's title reminds us, love is blind, and our young piano tuner gives up financial success, takes part in a duel and flees from country to country to escape his pursuer, all for the love of Lika.

The reader knows all this cannot possibly end happily, but it makes compulsive reading. Boyd's novels are always a pleasure.

[doondeck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Elegant prose from Boyd. Engaging story with a deeply romantic conclusion

[thiscatsabroad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this novel, but am hesitant to give it 5 stars because of its final segment. The entire section with the ethnologist & his on the Andaman Islands felt like an unnecessary supplement that added nothing to the story, and if anything detracted from the rhythm of the novel.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read it in three sittings. Even shed tears at the end. All Boyd's books affect me in some visceral fashion beginning with Any Human Heart, recommended by an English teacher I know from AOL-J-Land. I have loved every one.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In my opinion, William Boyd is probably the finest living British writer … indeed, perhaps the finest living writer from anywhere, and this novel is a worthy addition to his canon. He seems capable of taking on any genre and in his previous works has served up intricate espionage thrillers (Restless or Waiting for Sunrise), bildungsroman works (The New Confessions), or often hilarious comedies such as A Good man in Africa or Stars and Bars. He has also excelled in the pseudo biography, such as Sweet Caress or Any Human Heart. One theme that underpins all of these is his ability to deliver a compelling and embracing love story.

This book tells the story of Brodie Moncur. Born in the Scottish Borders in 1870, son of a querulous, bullying clergyman, Brodie was identified early in his childhood as possessing perfect pitch, and was trained as a choirboy. Sadly, his voice broke so completely as to rule out any future career as a singer, but he retained his pitch, and was encouraged to learn how to play the piano. He didn’t excel at playing the instrument, but because of his gift of perfect pitch, he became a very accomplished tuner of pianos.

As the novel opens, he is working for Channon and Co, the most prestigious Scottish piano manufacturer, and is shortly despatched to work as assistant manager in the firm’s Paris showroom. Full of ideas, he suggests that the firm should commence a partnership with a noted concert pianist, paying them a fee and hoping to reap the benefit of such celebrated endorsement of their pianos. Pursuit of this idea brings Brodie into contact with John Kilbarron, a celebrated and enigmatic Irish virtuoso, perhaps slightly past his best but still a draw across the European classical music circuit. Brodie and Kilbarron strike up a mutually successful relationship that brings in a lot of money for both parties. The relationship is never entirely comfortable, however, not least because Brodie falls in love at first sight with Lydia (“Lika”) Blum, an aspiring opera singer and Kilbarron’s companion. Beset with a series of setbacks, Brodie remains obsessively in love with Lika, and ends up following the Kilbarron entourage across Europe, ending up in St Petersburg where Kilbarron finds a wealthy patron who wants him to be the focal point in her bid to establish her own prestigious musical theatre. The course of true love never did run smooth, of course, and Brodie and Lika soon find themselves deep in tribulation.

As always, Boyd’s prose style is beautiful – he writes with clarity and elegance, and ensnares the reader’s attention within a few lines. He also manages to convey a huge amount of technical information about the construction and tuning of pianos, as well as painting enticing pictures of a number of locations across Europe, without ever taxing the reader’s patience or seeming to preach. The various denouements (and the book has several twists that I never saw coming) are brilliantly constructed and delivered – put together as masterfully as a Channon & Co grand piano.

As it happens, this was the hundredth book I have read this year, and I seriously believe that it is the best, by a considerable margin.

[runner56_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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