The Virtuoso

‘Looking back, I realise I’d always been waiting for the arrival of Noël Mewton-Wood. His entrance occured with such ease that I began to believe he’d always been there, standing in the wings, long before I’d even laid eyes on him.’

London, November 1945: at a bohemian party, a young music student meets the charismatic concert pianist Noël Mewton-Wood. The two immediately become lovers, and the affair unleashes an overwhelming passion as grand and sublime as the music they both love.

Ten years on, the student, now a successful writer, reflects on the affair, the forces that shaped him and the one he adored, and the romantic obsession that ruled and almost ruined his life.

This assured, beautifully written debut novel is inspired by the brilliant life of Australian pianist Noël Mewton-Wood. Sonia Orchard vividly evokes the artistic world of post-war London in a novel of striking illuminations about music and imagination that is also a compelling and deeply moving love story.

• Year of Publication: 2009
• Genre: Literature
• Audience: Adult