The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945

The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945

<p>Named one of the Best Books of 1999 by the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, <i>The Pianist </i>is now a major motion picture directed by Roman Polanski and starring Adrien Brody (<i>Son of Sam</i>). <i>The Pianist</i> won the Cannes Film Festival's most prestigious prizeۥthe Palme d'Or.</p><p>On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outsideۥso loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air.</p><p>Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin Nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written immediately after the war and suppressed for decades, <i>The Pianist </i>is a stunning testament to human endurance and the redemptive power of fellow feeling.</p>