Description

A critically-acclaimed Sunday Times, Spectator and Independent BOOK OF 2020
‘Richly absorbing… An impressive exploration of Siberia’s terrifying past.’ Guardian
‘Evocative and wonderfully original.’ Colin Thubron
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Siberia’s expansive history is traditionally one of exiles, bitter cold and suffering. Yet there is another tale to tell.

Dotted throughout this remote and beautiful landscape are pianos created during the boom years of the nineteenth century. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos made the journey into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is remarkable. That they might be capable of making music in such a hostile landscape feels like a miracle.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia is an absorbing story about a piano hunt – a quixotic quest through two centuries of Russian history and eight time zones stretching across an eleventh of the world’s land surface. It reveals not only an unexpected musical legacy, but profound and brave humanity in the last place on earth you might expect to find it.
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What readers are saying about The Lost Pianos of Siberia:

***** ‘You know a book’s good when, on finishing it, you just want to start again.’
***** ‘Beautifully written, full of compelling anecdotes celebrating Siberia’s extraordinary history.’
***** ‘The most unusual and intelligent way to tell a travel story.’

Publisher Review

A modern-day Freya Stark. * Tatler * Roberts’ writing is beguiling. * The i * Utterly absorbing – a wonderful addition to the story of resilience, tragedy and triumph that are the hallmarks of Siberia. Roberts displays an empathy and understanding worthy of this deeply haunted, strangely fascinating land. * Benedict Allen * Roberts achievement is to vividly bring us into a hidden landscape that in an over-travelled world retains its mystique. Through her painterly depiction of the people she encounters, she infuses the epic with the intimate and reveals how sometimes looking is more important than finding * Sunday Business Times * Courage, patience, erudition and a sympathetic imagination… A travel book of rare quality. * Dervla Murphy * Captures Siberia’s wildness, but favours its enchantments. * Times Literary Supplement * Beautifully written… A unique short history of Russia from Catherine the Great to Putin… A sense of the extraordinary marks every page. * History Today * Fascinating account of Siberia’s horrific legacy told with great verve… Roberts is a wonderfully lyrical writer. * The Observer * A richly observed cultural history… thrilling. * New Statesman * Marvellous… a masterful example of modern historical travel writing * Independent * An extraordinary encounter with a wildly fascinating and astonishingly ill-known region… This is a wonderful book. * Sunday Times * What shines through in this book is Roberts’ genuine, humane affection for and fascination with the people she meets in Siberia. * Literary Review * An exuberant, eccentric journey through Russian vastness, European history and Russian culture, The Lost Pianos of Siberia is a quixotic quest, a picaresque travel adventure and a strange forgotten story, all wrapped into one fascinating book. * Simon Sebag-Montefiore * An impressive exploration of Siberia’s terrifying past… Richly absorbing. * Guardian * This is an amazing journey, the ultimate quest for the oddest objects – pianos – in the most unlikely place – Siberia. But Sophy Roberts makes it much more than that, an elegant and nuanced journey through literature, through history, through music, murder and incarceration and revolution, through snow and ice and remoteness, to discover the human face of Siberia. I loved this book. * Paul Theroux *