Our Fiction Book of the Month for February is The Gustav Sonata, Rose Tremain's finely-tuned and expertly measured account of the indelible impact of a lifelong friendship built in the aftermath of war. Two young boys, Gustav and Anton, form a lasting bond; coloured by social, religious and family division and the legacy of personal and national neutrality. Writing for The Observer, Hannah Beckerman described the boys’ relationship as ‘a powerful, profound and unexpected love story', and the book itself as 'a masterful, meditative novel'. Waterstones Online's Martha Greengrass caught up with Tremain to discuss some of the many themes underpinning the novel: the wide-ranging cost of reticence, the music of fiction and the vital importance of friendship.

On the eve of her new novel The Gustav Sonata's publication, Orange and Whitbread-winning author Rose Tremain looks back on forty years of writing and the unexpected places it has taken her.