An old adage says there are really only two stories: a man goes on a voyage, and a stranger arrives in town. This is the third: a woman breaks the rules . . . Can you uncover the truth when you’re forbidden from speaking it?
Hidden in dense forests high in the Romanian mountains, where the winters were especially cold and long, were spruce trees that would be made into pianos: exquisite instruments famous for the warmth of their tone and beloved by the likes of Schumann and Liszt. One man alone knew how to choose them . . .
Etiel is a recuperator, someone who risks entering a radioactive and forbidden city to give back to people the things they once left behind. Involved against his will in a political conspiracy, he has to enter once more, this time to retrieve a person.
'Moving, funny, compassionate and wise, An Unlikely Visitor is an astonishing achievement. Joanna Cannon is an exquisite observer of human nature. Her stories are not so much told as felt by the soul. An Unlikely Visitor made me laugh, cry and left me filled with hope' ELIZABETH DAY