The Lost Pianos of Siberia
SOPHy ROBERTS
(DOUBLEDAY, 448 PP, £18.99)
Tablet bookshop price £17.09 • Tel 020 7799 4064
As a pianist, my interest is always sparked by a book with pianos in its title. This, combined with my fledgling knowledge of Russia, made Sophy Roberts’ first book doubly enticing. What I quickly discovered was that this is not a book about pianos so much as a book about a search across an extraordinary country. Pianos are the object of this search: pianos with stories.
Roberts’ quest is ignited by meeting a young Mongolian pianist, Odgerel Sampilnorov, who is giving summer recitals from a Mongolian tent or ger, but is tiring of her characterless Yamaha baby grand. Sampilnorov’s friends hatch a plan to replace the instrument with something old, a piano with soul and history, a piano from Siberia: Roberts, long fascinated by the country, volunteers for the task.