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Wanderer
Wanderer | Sarah Léon
4 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 6 to read
An exceptional debut novel that explores the stifled, unspoken feelings of a music teacher and his former student, and the damage done by their years of silence Hermin, a composer and instructor, leads a secluded life near the Bourbonnais Mountains in France, composing an homage to Schubert. On a bitter January night, this studious peace is broken when his former pupil, Lenny, a piano prodigy, mysteriously knocks at his door. The two men must confront the ghosts of their past, somewhere between musical harmony, erotic tension, and revelation. Wanderer, echoing Schubert's recurring theme, is a novel of rare delicacy, a twilight adagio, a Winterreise, and a subtle ode to German Romanticism.
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ReadingEnvy
Wanderer | Sarah Léon
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Translated from the French, Wanderer tells the story of a student-teacher relationship when they reconnect after some time has passed. It can be read on that level but really the story deepens if you can read the language of Schubert, whose music permeates the dialogue, the setting, the characters, even the plot. (I gave in and listened to Schubert while I read it.)

More in comments.

ReadingEnvy I found myself wishing the translator had translated more of the German lyrics, because the meaning of them is what is most important, leaving the punch of an interaction delayed until I flipped to the endnote. The original narrative moves between present third person pov and past first person pov that I was confused at times. 5y
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BethFishReads
Wanderer | Sarah Léon
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I love books in translation. Here are my January picks. Find out more by searching for the titles here on Litsy or on my blog https://www.bethfishreads.com/2019/01/6-books-in-translation-to-read-in.html?m=1

Weaponxgirl Thankyou for this. I‘ve been trying to up my reading in translation for the last couple of years now and love new suggestions 5y
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RebeccaH
Wanderer | Sarah Léon
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My first translated book of the year. This was a beautiful, sad story of music and friendship, love and loss. I wasn‘t sure it would work at first but then the story pulled me in and I loved it by the end.

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thatbookboi
Wanderer | Sarah Léon
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I am completely stunned and breathless after reading this book. The way in which Léon is able to craft the past into this novel is probably the most stunning storytelling I‘ve come across. Uncover the dark past that Hermin and Lenny shared together before Lenny, now a famous pianist, leaves Hermin, his tutor and leaves, with essentially no notice, but reappears in Hermin‘s isolated cabin deep in the blustery mountains.