The Piano Teacher: A Novel
Janice Y. K. Lee
Language: English
Pages: 328
ISBN: 0143116533
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"A rare and exquisite story . . . Transports you out of time, out of place, into a world you can feel on your very skin." —Elizabeth Gilbert
Janice Y.K. Lee's latest novel, The Expatriates, is now available from Viking
The New York Times bestseller
In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, Janice Y.K. Lee's debut novel is a tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong. In 1942, Englishman Will Truesdale falls headlong into a passionate relationship with Trudy Liang, a beautiful Eurasian socialite. But their affair is soon threatened by the invasion of the Japanese as World War II overwhelms their part of the world. Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong to work as a piano teacher and also begins a fateful affair. As the threads of this spellbinding novel intertwine, impossible choices emerge-between love and safety, courage and survival, the present, and above all, the past.
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is it?” Melody said casually. “Four years at Wellesley will do that for you, I suppose.” “You were at university in America?” Claire asked. She hadn’t known that Chinese went to university in America. “Loved every minute,” she said. “Except for the horrible, horrible food. Americans think a grilled cheese sandwich is a meal! And as you know, we Chinese take food very seriously.” “Is Locket going to be schooled in America?” “We haven’t decided, but really, I’d rather talk to you about your
Janice Y. K. Lee exercised. I think some of the women are talking about putting on a show, a play. You should get involved with them . . .” “Paaah!” She expectorates onto the floor. “Stupid cows!” He sits, not wanting to provoke her further. “They are stupid, absurd women, who think a few clever lines will make us forget we’re here, in this tragedy of a situation. I despise them.” And they, you, Will thinks, but doesn’t say. “What would you like to do?” She looks at him incredulously. “What the
brittle. “And what does Otsubo think of you springing me from the camp? Does he know?” “Well, he arranged it for me. I don’t think he’s the jealous type, to be honest. I don’t think you will be spending much time together. Do you want Cantonese food? I’m in the mood for noodles, actually.” “Chinese?” “Yes, the other food is unbearable these days since there’s no one proper to cook it.” “Have you ever missed a meal?” “Darling, if you miss a meal, the light quite goes out of the day. All Chinese
an elephant that they trained to paint.” “That is one of your outlandish stories.” “No, I’m serious. Father said he saw it himself.” “They had the elephant paint the palace?” “Certainly not! I’m sure he just painted the rough outbuildings and barns and things like that.” “Of course, darling.” They’ve stopped at an overlook where tour ists used to come to look over Hong Kong harbor. “Should we get out?” There is a wobbly iron fence, pebbles and dirt underneath, wind with the metallic smell of
compliments—when people tell her she’s beautiful, she says instantly, “But I have a mus tache!” And she does, a faint golden one you can see only in the sun. She is always in the papers, although, she explains, it’s more because of her father than that she is beautiful. “Hong Kong is very practical that way,” she says. “Wealth can make a woman beautiful.” She is often the only Chinese at a party, although she says she’s not really Chinese—she’s not really anything, she says. She’s everything,
