He had waited all week to meet her, and now the time had come. The dinner reservations were made, he was shaved, his hair shampooed and carefully messed. This was his first date in over a year and his approaching fiftieth birthday scared him; he was ready, finally. Her blond hair glowed in the evening light and lay softly on her bare, pearly shoulders, revealing her thirty-something years.
Mr. Blok by my father, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, was published posthumously by Adelaide Books. Excerpts from my introduction in the book are below:
My father wrote Mr. Blok at the prime of his illustrious cello career. I was very young and didn’t read the manuscript until last year. At some point many years ago I asked Papa why he didn’t publish it. “Because if I did,” he said, “both you and your sister Jephta would be expelled from school!” Doubtful, I thought, but he said nothing more.
Time passed and Papa died from lung cancer in 1976; he was 73. The manuscript languished in my mother’s house for 50 more years.... [Read More]
