[The opening scene of Orchestra & Beginners is a] country home in Sussex, where a typical upper-class British weekend house party is in progress….

It is soon clear … that this scene, typical of Frederic Raphael's subtle method throughout, is set primarily for contrast and introduction. The autumn peacefulness of the Sussex weekend is deceptive; though it is scarcely alluded to, World War II has just begun….

The Strausses, Leonard and Linda, alone seem aware that their lives are about to change fundamentally. But then, though they are in this old school group, they are not really of it. Leonard is a Jew, Linda an American. Orchestra & Beginners is the story of their marriage and its reshaping under the tensions of—among other things—the war. As the plot unfolds, the cracks in the apparently secure foundations of this "perfect" marriage are gradually revealed. (p. 43)

Orchestra & Beginners is a fascinating...