'A mini-masterpiece' William Boyd, Guardian 'Remarkable' Daily Telegraph 'Unforgettable' Mail on Sunday 'Prodigious' Spectator 'Perfect' Daily Mail In a snowbound railway station deep in the Soviet Union, a stranded passenger comes across an old man playing the piano in the dark, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Once on the train to Moscow he begins to tell his story: a tale of loss, love and survival that movingly illustrates the strength of human resilience. 'A very short novel that contains multitudes . . . profound, moving, haunting - full of resonances that are even more valid in today's fraught times' William Boyd, Guardian 'A masterpiece, a novella to be read in a lunch hour and remembered for ever' Jilly Cooper, Sunday Telegraph