Search  for anything...

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier

  • Based on 737 reviews
Condition: New
Checking for product changes
$17.00 Why this price?
Save $3.00 was $20.00

Buy Now, Pay Later


As low as $4 / mo
  • – 4-month term
  • – No impact on credit
  • – Instant approval decision
  • – Secure and straightforward checkout

Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout. Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, PayTomorrow, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Free shipping on this product

30-day refund/replacement

To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.


Availability: In Stock.
Fulfilled by Amazon

Arrives Monday, Feb 24
Order within 15 hours and 3 minutes
Available payment plans shown during checkout

Description

Walking his two young children to school every morning, Thad Carhart passes an unassuming little storefront in his Paris neighborhood. Intrigued by its simple sign—Desforges Pianos—he enters, only to have his way barred by the shop’s imperious owner. Unable to stifle his curiosity, he finally lands the proper introduction, and a world previously hidden is brought into view. Luc, the atelier’s master, proves an indispensable guide to the history and art of the piano. Intertwined with the story of a musical friendship are reflections on how pianos work, their glorious history, and stories of the people who care for them, from amateur pianists to the craftsmen who make the mechanism sing. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is at once a beguiling portrait of a Paris not found on any map and a tender account of the awakening of a lost childhood passion. Praise for The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: “[Carhart’s] writing is fluid and lovely enough to lure the rustiest plunker back to the piano bench and the most jaded traveler back to Paris.” –San Francisco Chronicle “Captivating . . . [Carhart] joins the tiny company of foreigners who have written of the French as verbs. . . . What he tries to capture is not the sight of them, but what they see.” –The New York Times “Thoroughly engaging . . . In part it is a book about that most unpredictable and pleasurable of human experiences, serendipity. . . . The book is also about something more difficult to pin down, friendship and community.” –The Washington Post “Carhart writes with a sensuousness enhanced by patience and grounded by the humble acquisition of new insight into music, his childhood, and his relationship to the city of Paris.” –The New Yorker NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (March 12, 2002)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375758623


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 21


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.7 x 7.9 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #125,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #112 in General France Travel Guides #526 in Piano & Keyboards #3,729 in Memoirs (Books)


#112 in General France Travel Guides:


#526 in Piano & Keyboards:


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Monday, Feb 24

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

  • Klarna Financing
  • Affirm Pay in 4
  • Affirm Financing
  • Afterpay Financing
  • PayTomorrow Financing
  • Financing through Apple Pay
Leasing options through Acima may also be available during checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Top Amazon Reviews


  • Possibly the best book I've ever read.
I got this book because it is about Paris, my favorite place in the world. The book is a 1,000 times better than I could have imagined. It's a wonderful, personal story (it is a memoire of the best, storytelling kind) beautifully told. The author was able to bring me into the story and I could follow him around in Paris. I've known for decades that Paris has been built up over the years by incorporating adjacent villages and that the "village feel" still exists in parts of the city. This book proves the point by demonstrating the daily closed village community tied to the Piano Shop and that's one of my favorite parts of the book. It is also about what it is like to love something deeply (the piano) and reconnecting with a love forgotten and bring it back to life. I've given a copy to a friend who plays piano and he was excited to receive it. I will read it again soon, and may take it with me on my next trip to the city I love, ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2024 by SD

  • All you need is an introduction....
Thad Carhart has written a charming story about his love-affair with the piano which should appeal to both amateur and professional musicians. An ex-patriot American writer raising a family in a more remote corner of Paris' Left Bank, he daily passes a quaint piano shop while taking his children to school.Curiosity leads him inside, only to be abruply dismissed by the grumpy owner. A later attempt fares better, when he is be-friended by Luc, the younger man in position to take over the business. He politely informs Carhart that to do do business with them he needs an introduction from one of their customers! As startling as this seems to Americans reading this slim volume, it sets the stage for more than just buying a used piano from a venerable old Paris shop: it proves an introduction into a totally different Parisian way of doing business. Carhart is gradually drawn into Luc's workshop where pianos of all ages and condition repose, waiting to be drawn back to life. Carhart is seduced by the stories the instruments have to tell, and by Luc's uncanny ability to revive them to play again for a new generation. How Carhart finds his own instrument will warm the hearts of all pianists. A long list of characters float in and out of the shop, including a burly delivery man who casually plays a piece by Couperin (standing up!) while waiting to finish his business, to the strange young Dutchman who tunes for Luc, and spends his nights sleeping in railway coaches at various Paris train stations. The story contains alot of technical information about pianos that most professional pianists should know (but probably don't!), and it should prove interesting for others who know little about the actual workings of the instrument. There is a charming restraint about the work, especially about getting to know people slowly and letting the personal information about themselves mature along with the friendship. It proves a valuable insight into the daily life of Parisians, and explains many of the stereotypes about the French being cold to outsiders. All you need in an introduction! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2001 by John K. Adams

  • What a journey!
I heard an excerpt of this one day on the radio, and from that moment on, I just had to hear the whole thing. I searched high and low, and eventually found an affordable copy on tape here on Amazon! After getting it and converting it to CD, I began what would be one of the most fulfilling and worthwhile journey's. The idea of an audio book appeals to me on a different level to a printed book. What I find in an audio book is a much less intense engagement with the story, and often a less exciting journey through the character's experiences and the life. Normally, I would listen to an audio book to switch off; to quieten or distract my mind. But what I found in this audio book was edge of the seat, 'what's gonna happen next?' type of engagement with the book. Not that it is an active or even mysterious story; I mean, after all, it is about a guy who walks past a piano shop for weeks and weeks before deciding to buy one! But the passion with which it is written and read is phenominal! I am a musician also, so to hear someone speak of an instrument (in this case a piano) as though it were a living thing struck a 'chord' with me from the outset! It is a long story (about six hours), so I found myself trying to fit listenings in around other things, which didn't always work well for the family, but they got through somehow. Interwoven into the story is this amazing appreciation for and vast knoweledge of the history of the piano. The writer holds these instruments in such revere that when the characters of the story sit at a truly great instrument to play even the most basic piece of music, I found my own throat drying and my own heart rate quicken. The telling of this story really does transport you to France, and as a person sits at a Steinway or even a broken down no name upright, you can feel the instrument in the room with you (which is great, because not a note of music is found on the telling!) I'm not going to go into the story, because that's why the book was written (for people to read it (or in this case, hear it) for themselves), but I will say that it is truly an amazing journey of history and modern day music making that takes you with it every step of the way. I look at my own piano with such a different respect and appreciation now than I did before being treated to this amazing story. I know that it came from Germany in 1903, and that it is one of only a handful to come from the 'factory' in Berlin; information I would not have thought to consider before listening to this amazing story! It is highly recommended. If you are a musician of any worth with a love for your instrument, you will get this book (as in understand it) from the first chapter. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2009 by N. Gray

Can't find a product?

Find it on Amazon first, then paste the link below.