The novel unfolds the life of Roland Baines, beginning when he is ten years old. His father, Captain Robert Baines, a working-class Scot with wartime injuries, is stationed in Libya during the Suez Canal crisis, where Roland and his mother, Rosalind, join him. Robert is an outgoing but underconfident man with a violent streak and a penchant for heavy drinking, creating a complex dynamic with his family.
As World War II erupts, Roland is sent back to England for education at a special state boarding school for military and government workers’ children. Despite his mixed experiences at the school, Roland, nearsighted and talented only in piano, struggles to find his place. Miriam Correll, a stern music teacher, becomes a significant influence, with a complicated relationship marked by discipline, sexual tension, and eventually, a passionate affair starting at the age of twelve.
Roland’s parents return to England, residing in Aldershot, but Roland remains at the school to pursue his piano studies. Miriam no longer instructs him, and he prospers under a male teacher. At fourteen, he excels in a school recital, a turning point marked by Miriam’s continued influence on his piano playing and their ongoing intimate relationship.
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