The Kreutzer Sonata: A Novel

(Paperback)

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With an astute sense of musical form and a wonderful sense of passion (New York Times Book Review), master storyteller Margriet de Moor, one of Europes foremost novelists, once again brings us a richly imagined and highly original tale of passion and jealousy.
The unnamed narrator, a young musicologist, meets and befriends the famous blind music critic Marius van Vlooten. Their first encounter is on an airplane en route to a master class in Bordeaux, where the narrator introduces Marius to Suzanna, the pretty first violinist of a string quartet there to perform Janceks Kreutzer Sonata. From this chance meeting, a passionate love affair soon develops between Marius and Suzanna. They become engaged and marry.
A series of subsequent conversations between Marius and the narrator reveals the truth behind Mariuss blindness: when he was a young student, he had fallen madly in love with a girl who spurned him. Despairing, he tried to commit suicide, but succeeded only in blinding himself. Now, ten years later, Marius is prey to another terrible dilemma: he loves Suzanna desperately, but, strongly suspecting she has a lover, becomes insanely jealous. His suspicions and his past draw himand the readerinto a dramatic and tense Hitchcockian vertigo, where the tragedy plays itself out.
This subtly constructed novel evokes powerful emotions through what the characters see and dont see, but mostly through what they hearthe language of music.
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Reviews

A fascinating novel . . . de Moors astonishing delivery of each brilliant story makes for a thrilling reading experience.
Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer
A fascinating novel . . . de Moors astonishing delivery of each brilliant story makes for a thrilling reading experience.
Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer

Author Bio

Margriet de Moor is a Dutch writer, pianist, classical singer, and artist. She is the author of many short stories, essays, and novels. All six of her novels have been international bestsellers, and she is the recipient of the Gouden Ezelsoor and the AKO Literature Prize. She resides in Bussum, a small town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands.