Clarisse Villain plays the cello. To earn a living, she takes whatever work she can find, playing background music in restaurants when she isn’t playing in the background, being an understudy or filling in… Occasionally, she actually gets to play timeless classics in provincial halls or suburban churches.

Yet she had studied with the extraordinary Viktor Sobolevitz, in eternal mourning for his spouse. And she had had a sporadic fling with Remy Nevel, an influential music critic.

The thing is, despite her musical talent, Clarisse doesn’t know how to play the social game. And when it comes to love, she is the eternal shy child, saved by music.

Then one day, she is offered a chance to play a legendary, but never performed piece: Paul Crespen’s Suites.

In this Bildungsroman set in the world of classical music, with plenty of narrative and flashbacks, Lola Gruber also reflects upon our need for both purity and recognition. All together, it makes for a real page-turner, as we get caught up by both the subtle accuracy of the psychological analysis and the hair-raising suspense.