
The Leopard's Wife
Paul Pickering(Author)
Simon & Schuster Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 26. May 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-84983-016-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Leopard's Wifeis a novel of love in an impossible land. Smiles, a famous English concert pianist, wants to make amends with his African-American schoolmaster, Lyman Andrew, who has buried himself in the war-torn jungle of the Congo. Smiles owes his success to the man he helped ruin and harbors a dark secret from the past and his brutal public school. But a bomb has exploded at a hotel in Kinshasa where Smiles was due to play at a peace and reconciliation concert and he is accidentally invited to his own funeral. Coffins are broken open by the Presidential Guard and when he is not in his, Smiles is suspected of being one of the rebels. He escapes on a ramshackle boat with the grand piano meant for his recital, which is now destined for his old schoolmaster more than a thousand miles upriver, where the rebel forces are gathering and exiles are fleeing the war in the east. On the way he falls in love with Lola, the beautiful wife of Xavier, the head of the Presidential Guard and the Leopard of the title, and Smiles begins to appreciate anew the majesty of creation and the Congo as he brings Beethoven into the atrocity haunted forest. But all the time the Leopard is following . . .
Reviews / Votes
'Engrossing ... Highly recommended ... Pickering takes on some of the biggest themes of all -- love, war, art -- with a boldness that puts most novelists to shame. The Africa he has drawn leaps four-square from the page, at once beautiful and terrifying' Mail on Sunday 'Brilliant black comedy' The Times, 31/7 'A storm is rumbling its way towards the port of Kissangani on the Congo river and with it comes an angry mob. They are hunting foreigners and spies, which puts secret-laden pianist Stanley Miles-Harcourt and the beautiful Lola, the wife of a feared Congolese military officer known as The Leopard, in danger. Will they be able to escape with their lives and each other?' Daily Express 3/6 'Paul Pickering's fine novel is an explosive brew of horror and romance' Mail on Sunday 3/7More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 130 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84983-016-4 (9781849830164)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Paul Pickering
The Leopard's Wife
E-Book
07/2010
1st Edition
Simon + Schuster LLC
€7.73
Available for download
Person
Paul Pickering is the author of six novels: Over the Rainbow, Charlie Peace, The Blue Gate of Babylon, Perfect English, Wild About Harry and The Leopard's Wife. He lives in London, where he is a columnist for The Times.