The Gustav Sonata

Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction

A poignant tale about the enduring friendship between two men under the shadow of the Second World War: "Beautifully rendered, and magnificent in its scope. It glows with mastery" (Ian McEwan).

Gustav Perle grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem only a distant echo. An only child, he lives alone with Emilie, the mother he adores but who treats him with bitter severity. He begins an intense friendship with a Jewish boy his age, talented and mercurial Anton Zweibel, a budding concert pianist. The novel follows Gustav's family, tracing the roots of his mother's anti-Semitism and its impact on her son and his beloved friend. Moving backward to the war years and the painful repercussions of an act of conscience, and forward through the lives and careers of the two men, one who becomes a hotel owner, the other a concert pianist, The Gustav Sonata explores the passionate love of childhood friendship as it is lost, transformed, and regained over a lifetime. It is a powerful and deeply moving addition to the beloved oeuvre of one of our greatest contemporary novelists.

"This is a perfect novel about life's imperfection." —The Guardian

"Tremain is one of those few writers you trust completely when she goes to any unfamiliar territory, historical or emotional." —The New York Times Book Review

"[Tremain's] expertise is evident in its gradual layering of personal history and its subtle mingling of lights and darks." —The Wall Street Journal