This short novel is set just after Covid when most people were still wearing masks, this adds to the air of mystery that permeates the book. A famous young pianist Elsa is dealing with the fallout from messing up a recital. A better knowledge of classical music might have helped me understand parts of the story a little more. Elsa spots someone in a flea market who she thinks is her double and they subsequently engage in a game of cat and mouse through three European cities. The story also focuses on her relationship with Arthur who adopted her as a child protege and was responsible for her successful career. She tries in a rather languid way to break out from her rigid existence and also dwells on the mystery of her earlier, pre Arthur, life. The story has a dreamy quality with various minor characters drifting in and out, it carries the reader along, however although like all of Deborah Levy’s novels it is well written I couldn’t engage with Elsa and that rather spoilt my enjoyment. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK for an ARC

August Blue by Deborah Levy A gifted pianist, Elsa arrives in Athens, where she sees a mysterious women buying toy horses at a souvenir stall. Who is this person and why does she keep following her around Europe? What is the significance of these horses? Perhaps the answers lie in her past. Adopted as a child by Arthur, a renowned music teacher, Elsa achieved fame on the international concert circuit , before a night of the jitters shattered her confidence, both professionally and personally. This is an enigmatic story, a little like a European art house film and with a classical sound track to match. I found myself streaming some of the music to enhance the experience.There is a dreamlike lyricism to the prose, which is relaxing to read and carries one along in a similar way to a song whose meaning is obscure, yet whose rhythm stays in your head.

My thanks to Penguin Group U.K. Hamish Hamilton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘August Blue’ by Deborah Levy. The protagonist of Levy’s latest work of literary fiction is Elsa M. Anderson, a former child prodigy, now in her thirties and at the height of her career as a world famous concert pianist. Recently she had dyed her long hair blue. Then a week later while performing Rachmaninov’s Concerto No 2 at a concert in Vienna, she had walked off stage after playing a few minutes of an original piece that she had composed. Three weeks have passed and Elsa is clearly adrift and no longer certain of who she is. At a flea market in Athens she watches another young woman, a stranger who is almost her double, purchase a pair of mechanical dancing horses. Elsa had wanted the horses for herself and is disappointed that there are no more for sale. As she makes her way to the ferry port Elsa notices the woman’s distinctive black trilby lying on the pavement. She picks the hat up and decides to keep it: “The horses were hers and not mine. It seemed like a fair exchange.” Elsa is uncertain of why she left the stage that night and she is clearly on the run from her talent and her history. She travels across Europe, seemingly shadowed by the elusive woman who bought the dancing horses. She is also dealing with the news that her adopted father/mentor is terminally ill and she has unanswered questions about her biological parents. So there’s a lot going on for her that could have contributed to her crisis. The theme of the doppelgänger, who may or may not be real, runs through the novel. Elsa reflects on her first contact: “My startling thought at that moment was that she and I were the same person. She was me and I was her. Perhaps she was a little more me than I was.” Another theme is the pandemic and how it has impacted on the lives of citizens in Europe. At one point she feels unwell and immediately wonders if she has ‘it’. I am sure that we’ve all been there. I have read a number of Deborah Levy’s novels along with her three-part memoir and I am always transfixed by the lyrical beauty of her writing. In the real world people rarely have the kind of enigmatic conversations that Elsa has with various folk as she travels, though it works in the context of literary fiction. Overall, ‘August Blue’ is a gem of a novel that may elude understanding but I just enjoyed its beautiful language and rich descriptions. Might it be another Booker Prize nomination for Levy?

In many ways, the appeal of 'August Blue' is that its interpretation is left almost entirely to the reader. It also manages to be both absorbing and unsettling in equal measure with elements that, rather like a fractured mirror, swing between startling normality to something with an undefined but sinister edge. Levy’s pared-back style of writing is always off-set by its sensuality, but perhaps never more so than in this book: Condensed details of colour, sound, and texture create a rich and vibrant atmosphere, but also one that is tantalisingly lacking in obvious reveals. Her characters too have an unnatural stillness, so that when they do act, one notices even the finest details and nuances. Protagonist, Elsa Anderson, is a fascinating but elusive character to pin-down. She comes across as a broken individual in one passage, but in the next, as a woman enjoying freedom, perhaps for the first time in her life. Equally, the mysterious stranger could be explained as a construct of Elsa’s disturbed mind, represent her search for a life away from the constraints and demands of public performance, or be the beginning of a very real love story. Nothing about 'August Blue’ is clear-cut, but this edgy, expressive novel certainly holds the attention.

I am, quite possibly, clear on only one thing about August Blue and that is that I shall have to read it again to thoroughly understand it. On the face of it we have Elsa, a brilliant concert pianist who, during a concert, stops playing Rachmaninoff and allows the composition that has been swirling in her own head to take over her fingers. Of course the conductor and her teacher, Arthur, see it as a breakdown of sorts. Thankfully whatever criticism she suffers is tempered with the onset of the pandemic and work for all musicians dries up in an instant. Elsa takes it upon herself to teach. Taking a job in Athens she crosses paths with a doppelganger who purchases something Elsa wants. There follows more encounters in Paris and London with Elsa finally heading to Sardinia where her teacher has decamped to find love. The language is lyrical and draws you in. It is almost a kind of music in itself. Elsa is almost an unknowable character not even being clear on her own origins. Her interactions with other characters are curious as she seems to hold herself aloof from relationships of any kind. This is my first Deborah Levy and despite its short length it certainly carries a lot of weight in its words. I feel like I've just touched the surface and I've missed so much. I simply feel the need to read it again because I'm curious to see what I've not picked up on. I will certainly read more Levy whose work intrigues me very much.