“Daniel Mason’s ambitious, lyrical The Piano Tuner ...possesses genuine moments of ominous beauty. . . . Readers . . . should be intrigued by the mix of historical detail, lush settings, and equally lush language.” –San Jose Mercury News

Once Edgar Drake is asked to tune a piano in Burma, he knows he cannot recind the offer. Drake quickly but cautiously leaps out of his dull life, leaving his wife Katherine and steady job at home. He does not forget to pack his love for music and talent for piano tuning, however. The journey he endures to tune Surgeon-Major Carroll's piano takes him through new places and allows him to encounter new people...even new love.

Daniel Mason was born and lived in Palo Alto, California. The Piano Tuner is Mason's first attempt to complete one of his childhood dreams; to become a writer. After graduating from Harvard, interestingly with a degree in biology, Mason's trip to the Thai-Myanmar border swayed him to write The Piano Tuner. Mason believes that reading as a young child and many of his own life experiences molded him as a person and inspired him to write, as the Washington Post Book World review claims, "An ambitious, adventuresome, highly unusual first novel that offers pleasures too rarely encountered in contemporary American literary fiction. . . . Mason is a gifted, original and courageous writer.”

"...It has been wonderful to meet readers. Writing is such a quiet experience..."

Daniel Mason's work has been influenced by some of his favorite authors and works including John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and all works by William Faulkner.

More recently, a trip to the Thai-Myanmar border to study Malaria aided in the writing of The Piano Tuner. Visiting the region allowed Mason to recreate a similar and fitting environment in his work.

Mason is now working on a novel set in Brazil, a place he has never visited but always been fascinated about. Like The Piano Tuner, Mason's work in progress is historically based, different in that "it's just history as a backdrop for other characters."

http://www.identitytheory.com/people/birnbaum68.html

http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1202/mason/interview.html

Malaria is caused by four species of parasitic protozoa that infect human red blood cells. Malaria parasites have a complex life cycle. In order to live, they need to have both a human and a mosquito host. The mosquito host can't be just "any" mosquito. It has to be a mosquito of the genus Anopheles. The mosquito picks up the malaria parasites from the blood of an infected human when it feeds.

http://www.malaria.org/causemalaria.html

Asia: Malaria is widespread in numerous countries in Asia and Oceania, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea. Malaria also occurs in portions of Iran and the Middle East. Plasmodium falciparum is common, as is Plasmodium vivax. Plasmodium falciparum infections unfortunately increased during the 1990s in India and Sri Lanka. Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum to multiple drugs is present in portions of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, and chloroquine resistance is widespread in Asia. Plasmodium malariae also occurs in this area.

http://www.malaria.org/wheredoesitoccur.html

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Big Book of Adventure Travel by James C. Simmons

1. There is a wonderful story told by a deaf man in the beginning of the story. Does the "Man with one story" change Edgar's view of his trip? Do you think the man's purpose in the story is for a reader's enjoyment or is his story symbolic? Is it similar to any situations that Edgar encounters during his journey?

2. "Edgar Drake turned back to the window. It was dusk, and wind played with the falling water, intricate crescendos and diminuendos of rain. I decided long before I came here, he thought". How does Edgar's character change? Rather, when during the story does he change? Initially, Edgar seems as though he will not go on the trip to appease his wife. How is Edgar changed by all the different people that he is surrounded by in The Piano Tuner? Edgar falls in love with a different woman during his trip to Burma. Was this predictable? Do you think Edgar wanted change in his life, and if so why?

3. How do you think music changes the war atmosphere in Burma? Does it at all? Is the piano symbolic of more than music?

4. Discuss Carroll. Do you think Edgar would have traveled to tune the Erard Piano if someone like Anthony Carroll was not in charge?