Tempos Mixed, Tempos Changing

A novel set in the late 1960s in Toronto, Canada. The story is built around three young people of different backgrounds. Sebastian who lived in former East Germany, is a graduate student and in love with Petra, an immigrant from West Germany. She works as a typist at a stockbroker's firm and appears reluctant to enter into a closer relationship with him. Sebastian befriends Natalie, an undergraduate student who lives in an affluent neighbourhood while Sebastian lives in a room in a rooming house among his records and books. Both form a friendship with Petra. Slowly the relationship builds and a twist in the story suggests a love triangle. References to jazz, played by his friends in East Germany and from recordings by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, underline the narrative. The title of the book is taken from a quote by the late Dave Brubeck, referring to a tune played during the Newport Jazz Festival at Newport, Rhode Island, 1956.