num_pages: 328
description: Ever since the invention of the piano, people have longed to own one. By the nineteenth century, the big, unwieldy instruments were shrinking in the heat of the colonies, swaying on steamships and singing in the drawing rooms of every genteel home. Carhart rediscovered his love of the instrument when he came across Luc and his atelier in a little store in his Paris neighbourhood. Luc's shop, crammed full of dismantled pianos and arcane repair tools, draws locals - from University professors to car mechanics - who gather to discuss music, love and life over a glass of wine. Inspired, Carhart begins to search for the baby grand of his dreams. Intertwined with this story of a musical friendship are reflections on how pianos work, their glorious history and the people who care for them, from the most amateur pianist to the tuners and craftsmen who make the mechanism sing.
language: English
title: The Piano Shop On The Left Bank
titlecomplete: The Piano Shop On The Left Bank
genres: France, Biography, Music, Memoir, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Travel, Biography Memoir, Art, History
ratings_count: 6143
places: Paris
awards: awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Guardian First Book Award
category: Longlist
publisher: Isis Large Print