The Flute-Player

The Flute-Player (Gollancz, 1979) is a fiction book by British novelist, poet, playwright and translator Donald Michael Thomas, known as D. M. Thomas. Thomas considers the book to be one of his six strongest novels.[1] It was Thomas's first novel to be published, though it was the second he had written.[2]

First edition

The book tells the story of Elena, a woman in an unspecified city and unspecified country who lives through tumultuous political changes. During this time she is forced to make ends meet by working as a prostitute, dancer, artist's model and servant. According to Thomas, "This novel emerged out of fascination with Russian poets and particularly Anna Akhmatova. I wanted a generic figure, a woman who preserved the truth of the word, while chaos reigned all around her. I didn't want to individualise the characters too much, so there is very little dialogue in this novel."[2]

The plot is told in the past tense third person except for short sections in the present tense and first person.

It won the Gollancz/Guardian Fantasy Prize.[3]