Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd (2004), Edition: New title, 172 pages
Description
Against the backdrop of Darwin, that small, tropical hothouse of a port, half-outback, half-oriental, lying at the tip of northern Australia, a young and newly arrived southerner encounters the 'maestro', a Viennese refugee with a shadowed past. The occasion is a piano lesson, the first of many...
User reviews
LibraryThing member esther.tp
A young man takes singing lessons from a Viennesse maestro/teacher. Set against the back drop of Darwin in 1968. A boy struggles to determine his future direction. The love of music is explored thru the lessons he takes with a teacher, foreign, indifferent and challenging to "Paul's" experiences of
Enjoyable, well written with an uneventful charm and pace that can only be appreciated by other's having grown up in Australia in the 70's.
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coming of age. The teachers dark past is slowly revealed. Paul's sense of his teacher from boyhood becomes stronger as he travels around Europe performing concert after concert in search of his boyhood dream of becoming a successful pianist. Enjoyable, well written with an uneventful charm and pace that can only be appreciated by other's having grown up in Australia in the 70's.
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LibraryThing member Amzzz
Very well written!
LibraryThing member Fliss88
Some books stay with you don't they. This one will stay just that bit longer, I loved it! I bought it after reading Wish by the same author but I must say, I enjoyed Maestro much more. I've had it sitting on my shelves since 2016 and if it's on your TBR pile, go get it and read it now! The main
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characters are Herr Keller the ageing maestro with a history he doesn't want to reveal until it was too late and Paul, an adolescent boy not sure of his place in the world but the book is peppered with a wonderful assortment of people. Set in Darwin early in the 70's I think, these two are brought together by a love of the piano but have trouble settling into the relationship of teacher/student. This is an emotional story beautifully written, it slowly draws you in and takes a firm hold and underpinning it all is the wonderful music. Show Less
Awards
Miles Franklin Literary Award (Shortlist — 1990)
Language
Original publication date
1989
Physical description
172 p.; 8.3 inches
ISBN
0732281482 / 9780732281489