The Novel in the Viola and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Very Good See details
Price: £1.43
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book
Start reading The Novel in the Viola on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Novel in the Viola [Paperback]

Natasha Solomons (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.00 (25%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 7 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Thursday, 23 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.99   -- --
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £5.99   -- --
Audio, Cassette, Audiobook, Unabridged --   -- --
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

Release Date: 12 May 2011
In the spring of 1938 Elise Landau arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay. A bright young thing from Vienna forced to become a parlour-maid, she knows nothing about England, except that she won't like it. As servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn, Elise wears her mother's pearls beneath her uniform, and causes outrage by dancing with a boy called Kit. But war is coming and the world is changing. And Elise must change with it.

At Tyneford she learns that you can be more than one person.
And that you can love more than once.

Frequently Bought Together

The Novel in the Viola + Mr. Rosenblum's List: Or Friendly Guidance for the Aspiring Englishman + Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
Price For All Three: £17.97

Buy the selected items together

Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre; First Edition edition (12 May 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0340995696
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340995693
  • Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 19.7 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 24,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Natasha Solomons Page
Natasha Solomons
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

'A deeply touching and blissfully romantic elegy for a lost world.' (The Times )

A vivid and poignant story about hope, loss and reinvention (Psychologies )

A warm story with a lovely uncloying sweetness. (Saga Magazine )

Solomons's confident timing means that we sense what is about to happen only moments before it occurs, and are compelled to read on, not as one might expect for the frisson of a new event, but for the thrill of having our intuition confirmed. (Stephanie Bishop, TLS )

For Mr Rosenblum's List:

'The descriptions of England - as friend, adversary and eventually home - are exquisite. A touching, surprising and satisfying read.' (Sadie Jones, author of The Outcast )

'Utterly charming and very funny' (Paul Torday, author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen )

'An unususal, comedy-rich novel... a treat of a book'. (Guardian )

'a subtle and moving examination of the dilemma faced by immigrants to modern Britain'. (Observer )

'Prepare to be seriously charmed'. (The Times )

'both a love story and an elegy to the English country house...the greatest pleasure is its stirring narrative and the constant sense of discovery within the historical sweep of Elise's life...Solomon's confident timing means that we sense what is about to happen only moments before it occurs, and are compelled to read on, not as one might expect for the frisson of a new event, but for the thrill of having our intuition confirmed.' (Stephanie Bishop, TLS )

'An engaging read ... ripe for the screen' (Guardian )

About the Author

Natasha's first novel, Mr Rosenblum's List was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Galaxy National?Book Awards,?and has been translated into ten languages. She and her husband have written the screenplay for Cowboy Films/Film 4.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down! 16 Feb 2011
By trishthedish TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
I loved this book, from start to finish it gripped me. It starts off with Elise in her Austrian days, having a lovely time in the early thirties and then quickly debunks to her new setting in England where she is sent to escape the impending whirlwind against the Jews. I had only a vague notion before this that some young well to do girls were sent from Austria in this way, but Elise's experiences are so well described that these events becoming incredibly real. The descriptions of the London fog, the confusion of being in a new city, let alone a new country are brilliantly painted. This could have been a sad but worthy tale about the journey of one such girl from a charmed life with servants to becoming a servant herself; but these is nothing pitiful in Elise's story, just the facts and wonderful descriptions of how she deals with things - although it is a sad tale in many ways. She comes to love the English countryside as her own home, given time she finds love, loses it and finds a more enduring love as a consequence. What I especially liked was the way Elise could stand back at times and see her own life, the possibilities of what might have been, which are often changed in a second by some stroke of fortune, good or bad or a particular decision. I love the authors style of writing, intelligent, caring but never falling into mere sentiment. I have already ordered the book she wrote before this one and can't wait to start it; a wonderful author to have discovered.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars predictable and too soft centred 9 Aug 2011
By Viv
Format:Paperback
Rave reviews raised my hopes for this book but I was rather disappointed. The story is entirely predictable and I felt it was peopled with "stock characters" of the kind often found in tv dramas. The tone of the book is gently elegaic (the heroine loses not one but two lifestyles, firstly in pre war Vienna, and secondly among the English landed gentry) but given the bitterly tragic story of a girl losing her family to the holocaust I found the soft marshmallowy feel of the narrative to be inappropriate. I was speed reading it from about half way through; this reader was not gripped.
1 Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Magic 24 Jan 2011
By M. Dowden HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This book was a pure pleasure to read, its only downside being that it eventually finished. With romance, a backdrop of the second world war, and servants this has so much in it.

It is 1938 in Vienna and the Landau family who are Jewish are starting to see the storm clouds gathering. It is decided that Elise, their nineteen year old daughter, will apply for a servant's position in England, and then her sister and brother-in-law will get visas to move to California, and the parents will get visas and move to New York. The plan is then for Elise to join her parents in New York, providing they can get a visa for her.

Taking a position in a country house in Tyneford, Dorset, Elise finds herself not only having to quickly increase her English vocabulary, but also having to learn how to do a maids work, not easy for someone who is used to having servants wait on her. With Elise not really fitting in she becomes a bit of a problem, being too posh for the rest of the servants, but because of her position, too low for the house owner. With romance in the air, Elise finds her position changing; as well as having to cope with the worry of what is happening to the rest of the family, due to delays in the postal service, she also has to worry about her lover who is at war. Taking in the period just before war, and then into the war there is a lot to interest in this book.

With soical comedy as well as other humour, there is more than a hint of romance here, as well as the difficulties of being an immigrant in a different country and having to work below the normally accepted level for different classes. This is well written and more than holds your interest, but alas, like all good books it has to come to an end. Taking in a world that no longer exists, and was disappearing at the time anyway, this has a piece of nostalgia for a simpler life.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting immigrant experience of pre-WWII Britain
Having read Natasha Solomons' debut novel, Mr Rosenblum's List, I was interested to see what she would do next and jumped at the chance to read this, her second novel. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Kathryn Eastman
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading if period/romance novels are to your taste
I loved Natasha Solomons' first book 'Mr Rosenblum's List' and so I wanted to give this one a go. But while Mr Rosenblum could make you laugh and cry at the same time, an emotion... Read more
Published 20 days ago by BontragerGirl
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down.
I really enjoyed this book - wasted hours of housework time, as I couldn't put it down!! Lent it to a friend who was of the same opinion.
Published 25 days ago by Rosie
5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing
Great story and set in a part of the country I know well so i could really appreciate how accurate and perceptive the descriptive content was. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Barbara
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought as a present
My wife had read this book from the library. She bought this copy as a present for her sister in Australia. It was well received.
Published 2 months ago by Martyn
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good
I really enjoyed it, maybe because I live in Dorset. I read it in 2 days, kept picking it up and reading a bit. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jos
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed it!
Enjoyed this book. Written very well and enjoyed the characters. Also liked the fact that it was set in an old country house and this came across very well. Good read.
Published 4 months ago by Karen Gooderham
4.0 out of 5 stars The Novel in the Viola
I thought the title was a litle bit misleading because it was a lovely book, with some charming decriptions of the countryside and the coast where the heroine ended up living,... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mrs Imogen Turner
4.0 out of 5 stars A MISLEADING TITLE
It was Alfred Hitchcock who coined the term "MacGuffin", that is an element that supplies the drive for the action (one example being the statue of the Maltese Falcon). Read more
Published 5 months ago by Barry McCanna
5.0 out of 5 stars The Novel In The Viola
This is one of the best books I have read in a long time, I bought it because I was intrigued by the title. It is beautifully written, which is always a good start. Read more
Published 6 months ago by viv
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges