Elegantly Crafted…
Atmospheric, deftly plotted mystery set in Prague. Can a woman really transcribe music from the ghost of Chopin? An investigative journalist intends to find out. Quirky and eccentric but with serious depths this is an immersive and enjoyable read, seeped in tradition and elegantly crafted.

Once upon a time there was a woman who claimed a long-dead famous composer came to her and dictated her music and there was a man determined to investigate these claims. If this sounds stranger than fiction, it’s because it is. This book is, in fact, based on a true story of a real-life woman who believed these things and has made her life about them.
A very European sort of a novel, not just its Czech Republic setting, but the overall mood, style, and ambiance, it featured a denser narrative than I normally prefer, but despite it, it read very easily and enjoyably.
There was something very engaging about this story and its characters. The woman in question is plain, plain-spoken, with not much education and a very limited music education, which makes her claims all the more spectacular. And the man, the documentary maker, is desperate to prove her to be a fraud and yet fails, time and again. So, is she or isn’t she? You won’t know until the very end and even then, it leaves space for interpretation.
I loved the suspended uncertainty of it all. Is it a ghost visitation or an elaborate put-on affair? And if the latter, then to what end? The woman didn’t seem interested in fame or fortune.
At any rate, a strangely enjoyable mystery about this world…the next. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Another quirky French novel in the best quirky French style, something that French literature seems to be very partial to. Set in Prague in 1995, not long after the fall of Communism but with echoes of that oppressive regime, it tells the story of an investigative journalist tasked with making a documentary about a woman who claims to be visited by the composer Chopin, who dictates his new compositions to her. It’s got to be a fraud, right? A scam? Or maybe not….? This is a gentle mystery, a whimsical tale, but not completely without a serious side, as after all this is the newly democratic Czech Republic and the bad old days of state surveillance and spying on your neighbours are still very much in everyone’s mind. If the story seems to be far-fetched, then there’s the real life case of Rosemary Brown, who also claimed to be channelling dead composers, and who is partly the inspiration for this original and charming novel. And of course sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction…..

Thoroughly enjoyed this very unique book provided by NetGalley.
I hadn’t heard of the author or the book, but was aware that ‘Walter Present’s…’ has started to promote European Literature. Being a fan of ‘Water Present’s…’ television programming, I thought I’d give the book a go.
The premise of a retired dinner lady, Vera, who despite having no musical training was claiming to transcribe new music from Chopin’s ghost was a little bizarre, but it piqued my curiosity.
The story follows Ludvik, a journalist, tasked with making a documentary to definitively prove whether Vera is a fraud or not. With the help of his cameraman and investigator (former Secret Police) they investigate Vera. The backdrop of Prague, the investigation which at times was like a game of cat and mouse, was very atmospheric.
I enjoyed Ludvik’s trajectory of belief - from complete sceptic to a journeyman into neuroscience, mysticism, psychics, perception and what it it is to believe and suspend disbelief.

This strange, entertaining and thoughtful book is inspired by a real woman, Rosemary Brown who claimed to be a medium for many dead composers to continue writing music. Faye has transferred his story to Prague in 1995 and his medium is Vera Foltynkova, who has produced a lot of new music she claims is dictated to her by Frederic Chopin. Ludvik Slanty is a reporter tasked with producing a documentary that proves that Vera is a fraud. Interviews and investigations follow. I got drawn into this story and found it hard to put down mainly because it’s not just about Vera and Ludvik. Because of its setting and time, there’s also the atmosphere of a people and country moving on from authoritarianism and this adds another layer of interest particularly in the character of Pavel, a former government agent now working as a private detective, hired to follow Vera. An excellent read.

The Czech Republic, in the 1990s, and a woman is being investigated by a journalist because of the claim that she is channelling Chopin, and presenting to the world brand new pieces of music he's still composing whilst long dead. While this seems to be about music, and about messages from beyond the grave, it's about more, too. Our main journalist – and the private eye he employs to tail the woman – know that neither the Communist leaders the country has just disposed of, nor the commercial leaders the country has replaced them with, would allow anything other than scepticism in the matter, yet all roads lead to the fact she's the real deal. I never expected the book to be concerning itself with the death of Eastern Europe, or making links between the death of a body with the 'death' someone stuck in Czechoslovakia would have felt when someone left for the West.

Still, for all those high-and-mighty literary ideas, there are frissons of genre treats – especially when the plot starts taking us around cemeteries, and imposing the deadline for the documentary's readiness. The main journalist character is a great one, too – it's rare to find someone in his job so blinkered and one-sided on the page. But I think this quirky read – one played with deadly seriousness – will be remembered for the surprising breadth it has, factoring both Chopin and the Czech version of the STASI into the plot.

What it won't be remembered for is the stodgy final third, which proves to some extent that the author had no idea how to juggle all his story elements and provide a perfect justification for the intrigue he'd given us. It certainly cost the book a star. But after a serious misfire with its sophomore effort, the Walter Presents curated strand of Pushkin Books has bounced back onto the upward path, and this gets three and a half stars.

I loved this story. The book is a translation, however, and it is tedious at times. The book could have benefitted from chapter subtitles because of the occasional difficulty in following which character is the focus.

I really enjoyed this book! Especially as a someone who plays Chopin music a lot on the piano, this book was such a treat! It was the perfect blend between historical fiction and mystery and sure gave me a lot to think about. I don't want to give anything away so you'll have to read the book to see what I mean, but I highly recommend it.

As an aside, thanks to this book, I learned about Rosemary Brown and her book of Unfinished Symphonies. She was an English composer, pianist and spirit medium born in 1916 who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical works to her. Really neat to read up about if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the ARC in return for an honest review.

When I first started reading this book, I was expecting a mystery story where a detective would find the truth with the help of logical thinking and detailed observation. But that is not what I found. Even if there are a mystery and an investigation, this book focuses itself on creating an ambiance. To me, this construction of an ambiance is the strongest point of the whole book. While I was reading I was able to easily immerse myself in the setting, watch it in my mind like it was a movie, feeling like I was there. The colors, the scents, the experiences, everything was well transmitted through the different narrators. I feel like this book has a slow pace, but it is not boring because of it. On the contrary, it helps once again to create a universe and to transport the reader there. The rhythm of the narrations is similar to the rhythm of the investigation. It seems like there is no end to both, but even if you feel trapped you want to continue, you want to know what happens next. In the end, I did not get the big surprising revelation I was waiting for, but the closure of the book was pretty nice, and it left me satisfied. It is a book that I enjoyed.

The Ghost of Frédéric Chopin is a mysterious novel about a woman who is apparently transcribing music from the ghost of Chopin. In Prague in 1995, a television journalist is tasked with making a strange documentary: something unravelling the mystery of Vera Foltynova, a widow who claims the ghost of Chopin is dictating compositions to her. As he tries to catch her out to uncover the truth, he starts to believe the answer might not be so obvious.

This is an atmospheric novel from the Walter Presents Library (similar to the Walter Presents strand on Channel 4) that paints a picture of post-Communist Prague and of what happens when someone tries to make a cynical documentary, only to not find the 'gotcha' moment so easily. It has a noir feel, with a lot of investigation and following the widow, and I enjoyed all the references to places in Prague and the changes that had occurred in the country. Overall, it's engaging and fairly short, making it easy to get momentarily immersed in the strange snapshot of a mystery.

I was sent an ARC by the publisher in exchange for my honest review for this book.
First off reading the premise you may recall a similar incident and yes it’s based on that. The plot and premise is good and I obvious do not want to speak more on the end since I want this to be without any spoilers. I am still in two minds about the protagonist, probably may change my mind