Lessons

Thank you KNOPF for this gifted copy.

💬 Is there an author that you’ve picked up just because you have a name the same as theirs?

Over 20 years ago I picked up my first book by Ian McEwan because he shares the same last name as my grandparents, I didn’t even read the synopsis! From that very first spontaneous purchase I fell in love with his dynamic characters and poignant stories. I am so looking forward to seeing where his latest book takes me.

𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.

Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.

Haunted by lost opportunities, Roland seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics, and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without causing damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past?

Epic, mesmerizing, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.