Thursday, February 01, 2007

Lunchtime read: The Accompanist - post III

There is an ongoing jealousy between Sonechka over Maria Nikolaevna but finally the accompanist finds a vulnerability she can use against her glamorous employer and waits for the moment to twist the knife

Highlights between pages 42 – 68 (chapters five, six and seven)

* After arriving in Moscow life for the singer and her husband is not easy as they are hassled by the authorities and she is told where and when to perform and her husband finds his life of luxury threatened

* They prepare false passports and escape firstly to the South, which was always a stronghold of the White anti-communist forces, and then head via Constantinople for Europe finally settling in Paris

* Once in Paris the man that Sonechka was asked to post a letter to all those months before in Petersburg turns up and Ber turns out to be the secret flame that Maria is hiding from her husband

* The singer starts to go out at night and after one particular evening when Sonechka comes back late and finds her employer all on his own she almost blurts out the facts about Ber but is sent to bed

The final part of the tale comes tomorrow…