he Andrew of the slender novel is really Andrei, a Romanian boy deposited into London exile with his Uncle Rudolf during the worst of fascism. Bohemian Rudolf (Peterson) is a lowbrow stage singer with a storyteller’s heart of gold. The very rough yet infinitely delicate sliver of European life between 1930 and 1950 is Bailey’s most beloved terrain. His Andrew, now 70, is reminiscing, but with Bailey nothing ever sounds dated. He has European melancholy in the palm of his hands.
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