The Virtuoso

Solomon still remembers.
Often, memories will have a tendency to acquire a life all their own.
They have a story to tell - of the living, done and gone, - and there was purpose once.
Yes, and it started when he met him. 1965. By the jasmines; nearing the pond; a loving moon soared.
Yes. It started then.
He has few certainties, left. One is right: he won't forget.
Oh, he was so tender once, and everything else? - he remembers...

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A long memoir following the experiences of Solomon Smith - whose life thus far had been nothing but ordinary, - upon entering an elite yet astoundingly peculiar music conservatory. In there, extraordinary were the people he met and unforgettable the relationships and bonds he established with them; more so dangerous and eerie were the secrets he finds himself made to keep. And of the trust he was meant not to have and emotions he was supposed not to feel? - he discovers it is much too easy to be lost and therefore, misguided by those whose true motives had escaped him all along, Solomon truly could not have escaped the end to where it all eventually led.

This tale spans over mainly four years (1965-1969), and the lines of genre blur between romance, drama, tragedy, comedy, supernatural - and I suppose many more.

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[P.S.: This story unravels within the same shared universe of those part of the "A Fool's Journey" saga, yet can be read as a stand-alone.]