The Piano Teacher

by Lynn York

The resident organist and piano teacher in the small Southern town of Swan's Knob, Miss Wilma is delighted by the return of her prodigal daughter Sarah with her young granddaughter Starling, until Sarah's absentee husband Harper shows up, a murder shakes the peaceful community, and enigmatic stranger--and prime suspect--Jonah Branch arrives. A first novel. Original. 50,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Carol Vuillemenot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three books listed have the same title. I bought the wrong one. The Piano Teacher by Lynn York is fluff - a good beach read. The biggest problem that I had with this version is that I could always see around the corner and so I knew what would happen next. There were no twists and turns that surprised me. It can be boring to know what happens next and the author hasn't told you yet. Too predictable.

[Grier · Rating 2 out of 5]

too much telling and not enough showing....too many characters asking questions in their own head as a way of moving the story along

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting into the book, and an even harder time caring about the characters.

[Sorina Zamfir · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry, tried hard but couldn't finish it

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s probably no surprise that a book titled “The Piano Teacher” would catch my eye, since I'm a piano teacher. Last summer, after completing the library’s summer reading program, one reward was a coupon for a free book from the library’s stash of books that they’re getting rid of. This was one that I picked up.

“The Piano Teacher” had several things going for it. It was written around 2000, in a “simpler time.” Lately I try to read books written no later than, say, 2012 due to the rapid influx of “woke” ideology so rampant in books. The story itself is set in 1980, which is when I was in high school, so it’s a familiar and nostalgic time setting for me. The location is North Carolina, with a decidedly southern flair.

Starting out, I enjoyed the book. The title character is Wilma, a piano teacher in her 50s. She has a student from a poor family who is super talented and is auditioning for a college scholarship by playing Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude — coincidentally enough, the same piece a student of mine recently played for ISSMA competition. How neat was that?!

Wilma is widowed and has one adult daughter, Sarah, who lives across the country. Sarah is a bit of a mess, with a daughter fathered by one man, married to another, and newly expecting another baby with the father uncertain. Sarah arrives at Wilma’s unexpectedly. I appreciated some of Wilma’s thoughtful wisdom about her daughter: “Children ended up out in the world, that was all there was to it. Once a child raised her hands to the keyboard and began that first measure, there was nothing more to be done, even if every note was wrong.” Nice analogy!

The story goes on, with the reader meeting a whole cast of characters from the town. A murder occurs, Wilma finds a boyfriend, backstories are explored.

While I liked aspects of the book (noted above), overall it was pretty meh for me. The story seemed to focus way more on Sarah and her husband than on Wilma, and I didn’t find them as compelling. Additionally, the many peripheral characters got confusing and even on the final page or two, as a plot twist was thrown in, I had to look back to try to remember the significance of the character mentioned.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this easy read. I gave it 4 stars because it is set in the county where I live in North Carolina, and it was fun to read about, recognize, and travel with the author to many of the places mentioned. Otherwise I would just give the actual story 3 stars.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took awhile to get into the story but once I did couldn'the put it down. While it appears it took a month to read, it didn't. I had library books to read so I put the book down and picked it up again two days prior to finishing.

[Els · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Bookclubbers 😉
This was a lovely book, set in rural USA. Not quite Miss Marple, Mid Sommer or Vera, but a gentle story with heart. Not a literary masterpiece, but an enjoyable read. I seem to have made it sound a bit wish washy...don’t let me put you off

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me a long time to finish this one. I didn’t like the characters but brought this book with me while traveling & realized I wanted to find out who really was the killer. I wouldn’t recommend waisting your time reading this one.

[Trudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one!! Many life lessons to learn here.

[Caroline Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

started out strong but by the middle i was bored out of my mind

[Michelle Schaefer]

Good book

[Susan Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very mixed up - lots of characters (never use characters names that start with the same letter). Didn’t really feel anything for any of the characters in this. Poor

[Wanda Hovander · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was kind of boring to me.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable characters.

[Corky]

Nice easy summer read. Love and mystery story.

[Book Concierge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick easy vacation read about the residents of Swann’s Knob, North Carolina. Miss Wilma Mabry, the widowed piano teacher of the title, is a gracious Southern lady who has always conducted herself properly. When her daughter and granddaughter suddenly arrive for a visit from New Mexico things get complicated quickly, and before Miss Wilma can blink both her son-in-law and another young man from New Mexico are staying with her as well. As if that weren’t enough, a police office has been murdered and suspicion has fallen on one of her visitors.

It was a decent read for traveling on the plane and waiting in airports over the holidays. I think York’s plot got away from her, however. I would have been happy with a book that just focused on the personal relationships, new love interests, and difficulties among the residents. The murder was an unnecessary complication, in my opinion; York did not succeed in writing with the kind of pace one expects in a mystery novel (even in a cozy).

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in Hong Kong around the time of WWII. It is an easy read, but hard to think of anything particularly worth discussing. It is about a young English wife who comes to Hong Kong with a husband she doesn't love and begins teaching piano lessons to the daughter of a wealthy family. She falls in love with an Englishman who had an affaire before and during the war with a remarkable woman who influenced all that came in contact with her. There are all sorts of 'unspoken' events that occurred during the war, that create tension among the characters. There are some interesting situations, particularly the time of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, but in general, I found the plot to be rather boring. I have not seen the movie, but I imagine The Piano Teacher makes a better movie than book.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Lynn York's first novel, published in 2004. I was quite impressed, and definitely recommend the book. Miss Wilma, the town's widowed piano teacher and church organist, is the main character, but her daughter Sarah, granddaughter Sterling, and son-in-law, Harper, all get turns. "Charming" is probably a good word for this book. The music aspect is obviously what drew me to the book initially, but it's just a nice, well-written, small-town story, with plenty of emotional interaction between the characters, whose history gradually comes to light. AND there's the murder of a local policeman, and a near miscarriage of justice to add suspense. And even Miss Wilma gets a romance by the end! All in all, quite a satisfying story.

[Sandra Jackson - Alawine · Rating 2 out of 5]

When local widow and piano teacher Wilma's daughter (Sarah) arrives in town, Wilma's life is turned upside down.

Sarah is pregnant and she doesn't know if her husband Harper is the Father or if it's the Indian Stud (Jonah) who followed her to town. What's a prim and proper widow to do. As if that isn't enough Jonah is accused of murdering Deputy Clem, merely because he is a stranger in town. Wilma teams up with the on so eligible bachelor Roy to clear Jonah's name, but long buried secrets concerning Lily and Wilma's husband (Harry) will be revealed in the process.

Will anyone ever really know why Harry committed suicide?

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely, thoughtful story about how one's dreams can be displaced by the thoughts or actions of others. The piano teacher is a woman in her 50s who missed her chance to become a performer, yet she is highly regarded in her community. Her one dysfunctional relationship is with her adult daughter who shows up unexpectedly with her child, shortly to be joined by her husband and a lover. All of this plays out in the context of a cop's murder.

[Babs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy-to-read whodunnit set in a fictional town in North Carolina where everyone knows everything about everyone. Quite unexpectedly, the local piano teacher, Miss Wilma, ends up involved in investigating a local murder of a policeman.

A nicely paced book. Nothing startling or amazing, but a good, old-fashioned, read.

[Jill Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I know this is a deep, amazing, fabulous book but. . .
I couldn't finish it. Every time I picked it up I became depressed. Just couldn't get through it. Finally quit torturing myself and put it away.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for most anybody. A little mystery, a little romance set in the style of other Southern stories (Fried Green Tomatoes, The Secret Life of Bees, etc.) I needed an author whose surname started with Y for my book bingo and I'm glad I stumbled upon this tale.

[Andreea Tanase · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it in one sitting, but that should tell you that it was just a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do, not necessarirly that the book is particularly brilliant. Just an enjoyable read.

[Terrieb99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mother recommended this title to me and i read the wrong author. There are several books with this title! You should of heard us trying to discuss this book until we firgured out that we read different books. I did realy love this one though- will try hers next!

[C-dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book from a local author (Chapel Hill!!)

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light murder mystery

[Agatha Donkar Lund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something about the ending of this bothered me, but I can't put my finger on what. Not enough to cloud the rest of the book, which was light but enjoyable, but enough that it's nagging at me.

[Mom Taxi Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, can't wait to hear what the rest of my book club thinks about it.