The Education of Delhomme
Chopin, Sand, & La France
By Nancy Burkhalter
**Winner of the 2023 IPNE Book Award for Legacy Fiction**
A richly layered novel set in 19th-century France: When Frédéric Chopin's piano tuner faces execution, the only person who can save his life is his former rival, the novelist George Sand...
Beaulieu Delhomme, a piano tuner, faces the guillotine for committing treason against the newly elected French president due to his part in the bloody worker uprisings in 1848. The one person who could save him from this fate is his former arch-rival, the celebrated author, George Sand. The plot leading to his imprisonment revolves around the triangle of composer Frédéric Chopin, his lover George Sand, and Delhomme, Chopin's loyal piano tuner. Both Sand and Delhomme compete for the attention of Chopin, who fights a losing battle with tuberculosis. The president's spymaster uses this triangle to lure cash-strapped Delhomme into exploiting his friendship with Chopin to spy on George Sand, whose fiery rhetoric threatens the new president.
At first, before the uprisings that marked a tumultuous period out of which France's Second Republic grew, Delhomme favors preserving the status quo because any policy changes might jeopardize his (and Chopin's) wealthy client base. Sand wields her pen against the oppressive laws and ridicules Delhomme for his views.
Delhomme changes his opinion of the monarchy when he sees how his nephew is abused as an orphan working in a piano factory in industrial London. Delhomme becomes a double agent, paid to spy for the president while secretly working for the resistance. Sand softens her contempt when she discovers that he has switched allegiances and now promotes workers' rights.
Delhomme is caught working for the resistance, jailed in Paris' infamous Conciergerie prison, and faces a trial for treason. Even Sand's testimony is not enough to trump that of the vaunted spymaster, but her fame may be enough to persuade the new president to pardon him.
Praise for The Education of Delhomme
“The author’s masterful creation of the piano tuner, Beaulieu Delhomme, as the story’s narrator serves as a brilliant literary device that closely and convincingly connects the reader to its several main characters and historical timeline. Dr. Burkhalter imbues these characters with a far greater depth than would be possible by any mere recounting of the historical record.”
– Steven Lagerberg, noted Chopin expert
Nancy Burkhalter succeeds admirably in telling a gripping tale of espionage, romance, first love, celebrity. Woven through these pages is a story of sacrifice for the noble cause of liberty and social justice that will break your heart. Is this novel, The Education of Delhomme, telling a story? Yes, and it’s riveting. You won’t want to put it down. Is it telling history? Yes, that, too. But seldom has a banquet of history been rendered more appetizingly than in Burkhalter’s debut novel.
– Scott Driscoll, Award Winning Writer & Instructor at the University of Washington
"Exquisitely detailed, complex, and involving, The Education of Delhomme is highly recommended for historical novel readers who like their characters well-drawn and their story lines well grounded in historical facts… Perhaps The Education of Delhomme's greatest strength lies in exploring the dichotomies between belief, purpose, and evolving political interactions that challenge and change everything. The social atmosphere and descriptions are exceptionally well presented as the story unfolds and Delhomme faces worries even over his efforts to rescue one individual from a life of oppression… The result is a complex, mercurial story. It keeps readers on their toes as entanglements change and deepen. Characters struggle with the inheritance of war and conflict even as they search for an elusive peace both within themselves and each other, and in the wider world of 1848 Paris.”
– D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Nancy Burkhalter is an educator, writer, journalist, linguist and piano tuner. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and English education, as well as a doctorate in linguistics from the University of New Mexico. She has taught composition for many years in the U.S., Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Her overseas work led to an interest in comparative education, especially critical thinking. Both observations and research resulted in her book and blog, Critical Thinking Now. In 2019, she was a recipient of Go Back, Give Back, a fellowship through the State Department to train teachers in St. Petersburg, Russia. She resides in Edmonds, Washington.
Photo Credit: Austin Irving