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

Another cracker from Boyd. The novel is very fast paced, as we follow Brodie from Scotland to Paris, Russia and beyond. Both Brodie's illness and the looming presence of the Kilbarron brothers, compete in a race to end Brodie's happiness, as they chase him across Europe. I found the enchanting Lika Blum extremely untrustworthy throughout the novel but was nonetheless desperate for her and Brodie to end up together. A great novel from start to finish. Both exciting and moving in equal measures.

William Boyd is a consistently fine writer and this latest offering does not disappoint. It charts the travels and adventures of a turn of the century Scottish piano tuner. Sent to work in Paris he meets and is subsequently employed by a famous concert pianist.who he accompanies to St. Petersburg. The love referred to in the title blossoms there but leads to complications. As in previous Boyd books there is the occasional flash of unexpected violence. Subsequent travels to France and Italy follow but eventually he travels to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (off Burma) where he works as an ethnographic researcher and his studies of the rituals and beliefs of the Nicobar Islanders presages the how the novel will end.

This is a novel that has it all: terrific writing, wonderful storytelling, just a bit of mystery and transportation to era and place, lovingly described, set at the turn of the 20th Century… Love is Blind bowls along as the story of Brodie Moncur, his trials and tribulations, a life adventurer, unfold. Brought up in the Scottish Borders, in a huge family with a fire and brimstone preacher for a father, he is picked on by this monster of a man for ritual humiliation and attack. He determines to leave at an early age. Brodie has the gift of music, with an exceptional ear and takes up piano tuning with Channons in Edinburgh, a family business building pianos. Success and capability propel him to help run the Channon store in Paris, where his marketing ideas eventually prove fruitful. Channon pianos are the ideal vehicles for concert pianists as they tour, and Brodie, as tuner, accompanies them on tour keeping the instrument pitch perfect. It is thus that he falls in with John and Malachi Kilbarron, the former the pianist with a sizeable alcohol problem, the latter a manipulator in team Kilbarron. Amongst the party also is Lika, their Russian companion, for whom Brodie falls into a sybaritic thrall for the rest of the story. It is in Russia that he can address his feelings properly….. Brodie, however, falls foul of the Channon dynasty, through no fault of his own and eventually fares little better with the Kilbarrons. Consumption (TB) takes its toll on Brodie but recuperative sojourns in The South of France and Biarritz all add to the rich storyline. The author beautifully transports his reader to life as it was presumably lived at the end of the 19th Century, with wonderful historical detail. In Russia Brodie is introduced to vodka flavoured with all kinds of spices – cinnamon, caraway, clove, anise and as he explores the more rural Dubechnia, his eyes are drawn to the roads paved with thick oak planks (who knew?). Period detail has clearly been well researched. The intricacies of piano tuning, too, are there without being in the least tedious…”repetition action” was discovered and patented in 1821 and means that when a note is struck several times, it will not quite return to its position of rest. This apparently transformed the instrument entirely. A novel to savour and enjoy.

I bought this book just before I went on holiday and have really enjoyed it, having finished it in just under a week. The subtle relationships between the characters provides a constant temptation to read on, with the plot taking you through a mix of emotion. The book takes you around the world with the many destinations Brodie visits, the day to day life described by Boyd is comforting and enchanting. I would thoroughly recommend!