John Thornberry’s Reviews > The Piano Tuner > Status Update

Starting reading again

He then awakes on the beach again and is rescued.

Drake speaks to the old man who tells stories. He tells of how he was shipwrecked and then found on the African side of the Red Sea. He is taken to a gathering of tribes and then led into a sandstorm by a woman who turns out to be a beast.

Drake is visited by a Captain Tideworth who is a friend of Carroll. He tells him of the rich and exotic passengers that he is sharing the passage with including the mysterious man with one tale.

Drake writes to Katherine and tells her of his journey first to calais then Paris and onto Marseilles by train. Through the Mediterranean to Alexandria and through the Suez canal and into the Red Sea. He still sees the trip as for the power of music to heal rifts rather than for the war office.

Kathleen finds out about Edgar's commission when the war office delivers a package to their house. at first she is upset then thinks Drake is doing it to try and prove something which annoys him. Eventually they come to terms with it and start getting things ready for the trip.

Drake tells his wife he has a new contract but doesn't go into detail. He doesn't rush things he is a patient man.

After leaving the War office Drake walks through London, his home town, feeling nostalgic. He returns late to his terrace home/workshop on Franklin Mews and is greeted by his wife of 18 years Katherine. They have not been blessed with children but are very much in love.

Drake meets Colonel Killian at the War office. He thinks that Carroll has lost the plot reciting poetry and playing the piano but his superiors don't mind if it keeps the natives quiet. Drake finds Carroll interesting but not quite sure what he will do with the piano.

The strange request for a piano was met with surprise but then insisted upon to the degree of potential resignation. The war office didn't want this as the Major was doing an excellent job keeping the peace in the area.