Synopsis
The saga of Claude Rawlings, child prodigy, from the 1940s onward, as he finds himself transformed by his talent.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-07-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 450 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 13.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
In the dim light of a basement apartment, six-year-old Claude Rawlings sits at an old white piano, picking out the sounds he has heard on the radio and shutting out the reality of his lonely world.The setting is 1940s New York, a city that is "long gone, replaced by another city of the same name." Against a backdrop that pulses with sound and rhythm, Body & Soul brilliantly evokes the life of a child prodigy whose musical genius pulls him out of squalor and into the drawing rooms of the rich and a gilt-edged marriage.But the same talent that transforms him also hurtles Claude into a lonely world of obsession and relentless ambition. From Carnegie Hall to the smoky jazz clubs of London, Body & Soul burns with passion and truth--at once a riveting, compulsive read and a breathtaking glimpse into a boys heart and an artist's soul.
Pulsing with sound and rhythm, this story, set in New York in the 1940s, brilliantly evokes the life of a child prodigy whose genius pulls him out of squalor and into the drawing rooms of the rich and a gilt-edged marriage.
Industry Reviews
"...Utterly sincere, unironically devoted to recreating an America that I would have thought by now had ceased to be an inspiration...A legitimate and moving piece of Americana."
New York Times Book Review - David Plante (10/03/1993)
"Impressive... A tour de force... The return of a gritty writer who has kept a low profile for 25 years."
"Full of rich characters and tricky twists... A rich novel of development... realistic, eventful."
"'Body & Soul' was written under the spell of Dickens, not to mention Stendhal, Tolstoy and the other 19th century titans."
Basayne
"A riveting, neo-Dickensian sage."
Basayne
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