This book could have been very good, brilliant even.

Roland Baines wife walks out leaving him with his two-month-old baby. He reflects on his life starting with the trauma of being left at boarding school, far from his mother and military father. His vulnerability and talent is noticed by his piano teacher whose influence is long lasting and life changing.

The reader is taken on a journey through Roland’s life, his missed opportunities, his restlessness and  failed relationships. World events also make an impact on him too. There is detailed analysis of Roland’s parents, their marriage as well as their history which Roland pieces together. He is shocked to learn their secrets and how World War Two affected the course of their life as well as his.

The story is a fascinating one around the disappearance of Roland’s wife and the impact of the piano teacher on him. However, after the first quarter of the novel, the story fell away beneath the telling style of narrative, the dumps of historical information and the remoteness of the characters. No-one was particularly endearing and Roland did not provide any empathy or relatability. In fact I grew terribly bored with him and his life story as it droned on and on.

The women in the story from his mother, his wife and the piano teacher were not painted in a good light either. His wife’s total abandonment of her son was difficult to fathom and her relationship with her own mother and her desire to write was barely believable to be convincing. Sorry, I just didn’t buy it. The piano teacher’s motivation and behaviour was puzzling and I found it hard to take the leap of belief about her motivation despite the author’s slant about her mental instability. Yes, it probably does happen but I couldn’t help wonder if this was mere wishful thinking from a man’s point of view? Alternatively, perhaps Roland was just an unreliable narrator which would indeed be more plausible. However this doesn’t make me like Roland any better.

The writing as always is wonderful where it’s not buried under a telling scenario. And while I did appreciate the historical events particularly the Berlin Wall coming down, the historical asides served to constantly remove me from the actual story. I lost interest particularly in the second half of the book and it was a chore to finish it despite the interesting twists about his family towards the end. But at that stage I’d had enough.

Sorry but this one was not for me.