What do you think of when you think of Baku, Azerbaijan? In my case, the answer is, "Not much." And so I was pleased to find this novel set in 1970s Soviet Baku, reading being vastly cheaper than travel, plus there are no uncomfortable coach seats. Leila is a fifteen-year-old piano prodigy and daughter of two well-connected parents. To demonstrate her commitment to Farhad, the head of her Komsomol (Soviet youth organization), she agrees to spy on a young man who hangs out in a music store and who is believed to be involved in anti-Communist activities. The young man, Tahir, introduces Leila to famous defector Vladimir Horowitz while chatting her up with his soulful eyes, and the rest is history. Well-intentioned, with interesting local color and nice insight into the musical life, but wholly predictable and by the end, very tiresome.
