The Page Turner by David Leavitt

The Page Turner

David Leavitt

Lovely romantic story about a young musician who falls in love with a famous concert pianist and has an affair with him in Rome. A sensitive portrayal of a young man's realisation of his gay sexuality.




Extract
Paul, who was just eighteen, had never turned pages before. Oh, certainly, he'd wanted to; indeed, had hinted both to Miss Novotna and Mr Wang, his high school music teacher, how grateful he'd be for the opportunity. Nothing had happened, however, until Judith Schmidt ... who usually took the job decided at the last minute to attend a Shostakovich conference in Arizona. A gap opened up, one that Paul, to his delight, was asked to fill: thus houselights, backstage, the opening of the curtain through which he now glimpsed the immense Steinway, throbbing before a slice of unsettled audience. Beside him Mr Mansourian was giving advice. 'Just have a good time out there' he was saying. 'Only be sure not to turn two pages by mistake. Richard slapped a page turner for that once.'




Parallels
  • An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
  • When Love Comes to Town by Tom Lennon
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Explicit sexual content