Music and Freedom

A gripping and beautifully written novel that brings to mind Elizabeth is Missing and the work of Elizabeth Harrower. 'I have no use for forgiveness, not yet. But other ideas like that,kindness, for example, I think that is fundamental. Resurrection;I like that too. And love, of course, love, love, love.' Alice Murray learns to play the piano aged three on an orange orchard in rural Australia. Recognising her daughter's gift, her mother sends Alice to boarding school in the bleak north of England, and there Alice stays for the rest of her childhood. Then she's offered a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, and on a summer school in Oxford she meets Edward, an economics professor who sweeps her off her feet. Alice soon finds that Edwards is damaged, and she's trapped. She clings to her playing and to her dream of becoming a concert pianist, until disaster strikes. Increasingly isolated as the years unravel, eventually Alice can't find it in herself...