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The Piano Man's Daughter is the tale of people who dream in songs -- two Irish immigrant families facing a new and uncertain future in turn-of-the-century Toronto. Narrated by Charlie Kilworth, whose birth is an echo of his mother's own illegitimate beginnings, The Piano Man's Daughter is the lyrical, multi-layered tale of Charlie's mother, Lily, his grandmother Ede, and their family. Lily is a woman pursued by her own demons, "making off with the matches just when the fire's caught hold," a beautiful, mad genius, first introduced as she sings in her mother's belly. Conceived when her mother falls in love with a musician, Lily is born in a field of flowers and grows into an odd, lonely child. As she matures, she becomes more and more alienated from real life, but this doesn't keep her from having a brief, mysterious affair while she's a student in wartime England. The result is Charlie, who has perfect pitch and a high tolerance for his mother's eccentricities. As Lily sinks deeper into madness, her once gentle nature is affected by the dark demons that inhabit her troubled mind. It is only after her death that Charlie, always Lily's protector and caretaker, is able to tell her story through loving but honest eyes, finding catharsis and hope in the painful but revealing process.… (more)
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Lily was conceived & born in the same field, in the late 1880s, raised on a farm in Canada and touched the lives of all of those around her. But Lily had an illness, seizures, not just the type coming from epilepsy, but a genetic defect that led to madness. All of her young life, her mother, Edith (Ede) had protected her and in so doing, denied herself, until the Piano Man's brother (Lily's father had died in a terrible accident) came along to claim her as his bride. While this was good for Ede, for Lily it meant the beginning of years of suffering.
Spanning the years from the 1880s through World War II, the novel is incredible. I can't even begin to describe it. The writing is beautiful, the characters are extremely vivid, wanting to leap off of the page. I highly highly recommend it.
I can't articulate what it was about this book that made me enjoy it. I chalk it up to a well-written and unique story with interesting characters. It's not difficult reading by any means, but it's not light and fluffy, either. It's literature! :)