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"A painstakingly researched work by the author of Charlie Peace finds a gifted young pianist traveling through the Congo to meet a former mentor with whom he shares a dark past, a journey during which he falls in love with a Congolese army officer's wife."
"Now a famous classical pianist, S. Miles-Harcourt, aka "Smiles," arrives in Congo to play a Peace and Reconciliation Concert, and to make amends with his former schoolteacher and mentor, Lyman Andrew, who has buried himself in the war-torn jungle. Smiles owes his success to the man he helped ruin and harbors a dark secret from his brutal public school days. But a bomb has exploded at the hotel in Kinshasa where Smiles was due to play, and in an unsettling turn of events he is invited to his own funeral. When coffins are broken open by the Garde REpublicaine and Smiles is not in his, he is suspected of being one of the rebels. He escapes on a ramshackle boat with the grand piano meant for his recital, which is now destined for his teacher, living more than a thousand miles upriver'a world outside time, where Smiles witnesses the miracles and the terrors of Congo as he plays Beethoven in a forest haunted by nameless atrocities. He is escorted by Lola, the wife of a feared Congolese military officer'even the leopard has a wife, says a Swahili proverb' and her adolescent brother; in the course of their journey, Smiles and Lola fall in love, and Lola's brother discovers Smiles's diary and the barbaric past it hides. But all the while an ever vengeful leopard is following . . . Author Paul Pickering's arresting prose is awash in sound'from sensuous piano strains to the crack of a rifle, the echo of footsteps, the rumble of tribal drums, the deafening roar of a waterfall; in Congo, each can mean the difference between life and death, joy and sorrow. Set in the contrasting landscapes of the African jungle and picturesque English countryside, The Leopard's Wife is a searing look at the racial tensions and societal discontents of two vastly different cultures, and it reveals the uncivilized cruelty and tender mercies shared so commonly by both."@en
"Smiles, a famous concert pianist and English public school boy, wants to make amends with his African-American schoolmaster, Lyman Andrew, who has buried himself in the war-torn jungle of the Congo. Smiles owes his success to the man he helped ruin and harbors a dark secret from the past and his brutal public school. But a bomb has exploded at a hotel in Kinshasa where Smiles was due to play at a peace and reconciliation concert and he is accidentally invited to his own funeral. Coffins are broken open by the Presidential Guard and when he is not in his, Smiles is suspected of being one of the rebels."
"Mit dem Piano auf dem Kongo: ein Roman voller Sinnlichkeit und Gefahr Als der Pianist Stanley Miles Harcourt, genannt Smiles, in Kinshasa eintrifft, bringt man ihn nicht ins Hotel, sondern zu einer Beerdigung. Drei Tote sollen beigesetzt werden: einer davon Smiles selbst. Es gelingt ihm, sich mit einem wertvollen Konzertfl ügel auf einem maroden Schiff zu verstecken, das den Kongo aufwärts in den Urwald fährt. Hier soll ein Friedenskonzert stattfinden, das, weltweit im Radio übertragen, auf die Missstände im Kongo hinweisen soll. Mit auf dem Boot ist Lola, eine unwiderstehlich schöne Frau, der Smiles auf der Stelle verfällt. Sie ist die Ehefrau des "Leoparden", eines besonders blutrünstigen Militärführers. Doch es ist nicht das Konzert allein, das Smiles in den Kongo führt: Der Veranstalter Lyman Andrew war Lehrer an Smiles' Internat in England. Er erkannte sein musikalisches Talent. Doch Smiles hat ihm Unrecht getan. Dies will er nun wiedergutmachen. Im dampfenden Dschungel spitzen sich die Ereignisse dramatisch zu ... Paul Pickering wurde 1952 in einem kleinen Dorf in Yorkshire, England geboren. Er studierte Psychologie und hat zahlreiche Kurzgeschichten, Gedichte und Theaterstücke veröffentlicht; zudem ist er Kolumnist für verschiedenen Zeitungen, wie z.B. die London Times. Paul Pickering hat sechs vielbeachtete Romane geschrieben. Er liebt es, wilde und unberührte Gebiete zu bereisen und war der erste Brite der Neuzeit, der 2000 Kilometer den Kongo hinabfuhr. In musikalischer Hinsicht wurde er von seinem Vater, einem Geiger beim BBC Symphony Orchestra, beeinflusst. Der Autor lebt mit seiner Frau und seiner Tochter in London."

genre

http://schema.org/genre

"History"
"Electronic books"@en
"Erzählende Literatur"
"Love stories"
"Fiction"
"Fiction"@en
"Romans (teksten)"

name

http://schema.org/name

"Die Frau des Leoparden Roman"
"The leopard's wife a novel"@en
"The leopard's wife"
"The leopard's wife"@en
"Die Frau des Leoparden : Roman"

workExample

http://schema.org/workExample