A young woman goes missing… On the threshold of World War II, a young woman from a titled family in the south of England disappears, seemingly without trace. An unexpected inheritance… In 2016 on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia, Maddison Browne is a romantic fiction writer who is lucked out in love and scared that her best days as an author are over. When she learns that she is to inherit an antique piano from a woman she’s never heard of, she wonders why and is driven to find out. A family secret… In England, Maddison unearths a century-old secret that leads her to a family she never knew she had and an entanglement in affairs of state. And she meets someone who might turn her life around. The Piano Woman highlights the fragility of family, the price of love, and the importance of traditions that can sometimes save us from ourselves. ‘A real page turner in terms of story and plot. The gradual unravelling of ancestral secrets across four generations is skilfully executed.’ – Chandani Lokuge, author of My Van Gogh ‘As a fan of dual-timeline novels, this one hit the right notes. There is mystery and some romance and a well written, compelling tale of families, tradition, and personal growth. Highly recommended.’ – Phillipa Nefri Clark, author of The Station Master’s Cottage ‘The structure of the book was very well executed, maintaining the suspense throughout. I was hooked until the end.’ – Goodreads ‘The Piano Woman has all the elements of a great contemporary fiction read, laced with detailed historical links.’ – HappyValley_Reads

A French woman cloaked in mystery dazzles her audience at Hotel Paris Rivoli, every Saturday night. There, she is simply known as "The Piano Lady", a former concert pianist and piano prodigy. Playing on the Steinway grand, her memories come alive in her music set, opening a time capsule of her life, before and after the war. She remembers the time she played at the Conservatory and later collaborating with Edith Piaf and Yves Montand. On the eve of the Liberation of Paris, she begs her lover not to leave her. Left alone to wrestle a grave sin, she finds a new calling, repenting her past life. Years later, a chance meeting outside the hotel unlocks her past, at the park square where she lost her great love in a historic, medieval neighborhood in the heart of the City of Light.

“The natural tone of Nicky Gentil’s richly anecdotal narrative will delight not only pianists and jazz enthusiasts but anyone who just happens to like pianos in general.” - Cadence Info Magazine A collection of humorous, touching, unputdownable stories set in Paris, The Jazz-Girl, the Piano, and the Dedicated Tuner transports you into a feel-good world of jazz, pianos and the little-known art of piano tuning. An entertaining slice of life, regardless of whether or not you play a musical instrument, this book explores the world of Nina Somerville, an Englishwoman who - while others are going through a mid-life crisis - discovers by complete chance her true calling: jazz improvisation. In a bid to enjoy that passion to the full, she purchases the piano of her dreams - a Steinway baby grand - leading her to make yet another discovery: the intricate mysteries of the fascinating piano tuning profession. Against the backdrop of the Eiffel tower and the Champs-Élysées, from the quest for the perfect sound to an unexpected chance to perform in public, music takes Nina on a journey which is at times improbable and hilarious, but equally moving, not to mention extremely informative. Previously published in France, The Jazz-Girl has been greatly received, and has the interesting addition of being musically illustrated on the author’s YouTube channel with some characters playing pieces alluded to in the stories.

Women are an essential part of the history of the piano—but how many women pianists can you name? Throughout most of the piano’s history, women pianists lacked access to formal training and were excluded from male-dominated performance spaces. Even the modern piano’s keys were designed without consideration of women’s typically smaller hands. Yet despite their music being largely confined to the domestic sphere, women continued to play, perform, and compose on their own terms. Celebrated pianist and author Susan Tomes traces fifty such women across the piano’s history. Including now-famous names such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, Tomes also highlights overlooked women: from Hélène de Montgeroult, whose playing saved her life during the French Revolution, to Leopoldine Wittgenstein, influential Viennese salonnière, and Hazel Scott, the first Black performer in the United States to have a nationally syndicated TV show. From Maria Szymanowska to Nina Simone, and including interviews with women performing today, this is a much-needed corrective to our understanding of the piano—and a timely testament to women’s musical lives.

This best-selling tale of exploration and belonging, which won the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize 2016, Illustrated Book Category, is now available in board book.

This entertaining memoir provides a glimpse into the comedies, tragedies, and mundane miracles witnessed from the business perspective of a world-traveling lounge musician.