Reviews for The Scarred Pianist
A really good novel about relations, secrets and dreams – all themes that the author describe so well. Childhood memories and the importance of music are also allowed space in the story making it multifaceted and memorable.
– Ålandstidningen (Benita Mattsson, 2016)
This is a novel that is hard to put down. A somewhat mystical story with unexpected twists and turns.
– Tranås-Posten (A.A, 2016)
The book is at its best when the story focuses on the friendship between the two women and the fragile balance of power between them.
– Damernas Värld (Jenny Bergquist, 2016)
The best!
Can one win an Oscar, a BAFTA or a Grammy for the most beautifully written prose? If so, the award goes to Maria Ernestam. I fall flat to my knees in a pool of mud for her words, deliciously entwined throughout the tale of Veronica and Marieke, who have been friends since childhood. […] And how one loves Maria Ernestam’s language! She delicately chisels out her story with careful hands and thus creates an endless pleasure for the reader.
– Fönstret (Caroline Engvall, Number 1 2016)
Beautifully written about human relations, secrets, dreams that never came true – and the roles we play.
– Kupé (Kerstin Sundmark, Number 5 2016)
In The Scarred Pianist, Maria Ernestam describes, with a finely tuned literary pen, the close knit relationship between friends-since-childhood Veronica and Marieke, a friendship which is the only thing that matters, especially since Veronica’s extra mother dies, […] Even the smallest shift in behaviour is meticulously noted. Every human reaction, each separate incident is analyzed. This is a novel that affects me deeply and touches one’s innermost feelings. For real.
– Femina (Maria Marteleur, Number 5 2016)
Maria Ernestam is one of ELLE’s favourite Swedish authors and her novels, modelled with skill, are always interesting with twisted surprises. The new book, The Scarred Pianist, is a story about Veronica and Marieke, the balance of power in friendship, and the twists of fate that forces life to take completely new directions.
– ELLE (Number 5 2016)
As always, she tells a sort of everyday life story, where every day turns out to be all but common, containing drama, improbabilities, mysteries, ambiguities, Angst and doubts. […] Maria Ernestam’s books are – if I may return to that caipirinha that I like so much – like a drink with many ingredients covering that underlying layer of ice and the warm, sun kissed fruit somebody pushed a straw right through.”
Maria Ernestam has a special talent in weaving complicated intrigues that drill themselves deep into the reader’s psyche. And her writing is beautiful. In The Scarred Pianist she tells the story of a relationship that often triggers envy…
