Asbeïn

A chance encounter beside Rome's Trevi Fountain brings Princess Natalie Alexandrovna Assanow face to face with Boris Lensky, a celebrated Russian violinist and composer. Natalie wants to hear him play again, while Lensky responds with a mixture of pleasure, suspicion and wounded pride. The glance of a passing officer adds jealousy to their conversation. Through gestures, clothes and small changes of tone, Ossip Schubin shows how social confidence and artistic fame can leave two people speaking at cross purposes.

The later excerpt moves into their married life, where a profitable concert tour in the United States clashes with family concerns. Lensky's anger gives way to affection, but practical questions about travel and the children remain difficult. This English translation of an Austrian novel offers readers a study of musical celebrity within intimate relationships. Its interest lies in the pressure that ambition, money and emotional dependence place on ordinary exchanges between husband and wife.