Book Of The Month January, 2008
Music & SilenceRose Tremain
In the year 1629, a young English lutenist named Peter Claire arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV’s Royal Orchestra. From the moment when he realises that the musicians have to perform in a freezing cellar underneath the royal apartments, he understands that he’s come to a place where the opposing states of light and dark, good and evil are waging war to the death. MUSIC & SILENCE tells a story that is both violent and tender, shocking and consoling. This is a bold, uncompromising, wildly original book which demonstrates that in the day-to-day business of living, as in a fairy tale, not everything is totally black, nor wholly white
What We Think
The Random House Group Marketing on Music & Silence:
Told from a multitude of viewpoints, Music & Silence is the darkly psychological tale of a superstitious and fearful King.
In the year 1629, a young English luteist named Peter Claire arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV’s Royal Orchestra. From the moment when he realises that the musicians have to perform in a freezing cellar underneath the royal apartments, he understands that he’s come to a place where the opposing states of light and dark, good and evil are waging war to the death.
This treasure house of delights, as haunting as it is pleasurable, teems with characters, real and imagined; with intrigues, searches, betrayals, in vivid scene after scene which loop in and out, back and forth, like overlapping and repeated chords.
‘The best thing from Denmark since Hamlet.’
John Julius Norwich
If you liked The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier, you’ll love this!