Publisher's Synopsis
A vibrant historical novel about the life of Chopin! Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory, Alison Weir, Jean Plaidy and Elizabeth Chadwick.
A frail young prodigy battles the odds to fulfil his dream... Warsaw, 1828 Talented young musician Frédéric Chopin has only one love: music, and his burning ambition to compose his own works. But a chance meeting with a beautiful stranger changes everything... His obsessive love for singer Constantia Gladowska sweeps him off his feet and inspires many of his compositions. He gains acclaim as Poland's most promising musical prodigy - but ambition and a cruel rebuff soon drive him to abandon Warsaw for the cultural capital of Europe. In Paris Chopin finally begins to attain the recognition he craves. But beneath the glitter he is lonely, homesick and dogged by ill health, and pours his melancholy into his brooding nocturnes. When he meets the bohemian writer Aurore Dudevant, alias George Sand, he is irresistibly drawn to her free spirit and appreciation of his talent. The pair become inseparable, and embark on a trip to Majorca, hoping the climate will help Chopin's tuberculosis. Their sojourn inspires some of his greatest works, but the composer's frailty and dark moods soon begin to create a rift between the pair. Can the frail composer cope without the love of his life? And with his health worsening by the day, will he ever see his beloved Poland again? POLONAISE is a warm historical biographical novel of the classical Polish musician Frederic Chopin, an artist who defied the odds. 'It will bear the re-telling more especially when as here the available facts have been so carefully studied and from them has been built up a sympathetic record at once so ordered and so vivacious... an admirable example of the now very popular "novelised" biography.'- Sunday Times 'A fine realization of an artist by an artist.' - Daily Sketch 'A convincing portrait, artistically executed.' - The Scotsman 'This is a beautiful book, written with artistry and insight, and I cannot praise it too warmly.' - Manchester Evening Chronicle 'A really brilliant study in imaginative reconstruction.' - Sketch
