Music in the Dark
Sally Magnusson
May 2023 · John Murray · Narrated by Siobhan Redmond
headphones
Audiobook
8 hr 55 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
Want a 53 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
'Wonderful and moving' Clare Chambers
'Utterly absorbing' Sunday Post
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL PRIZE
Jamesina Ross is long finished with men. But one night a stranger seeking lodgings knocks on the door of her tenement flat. He doesn't recognise her, but she remembers him at once. Not that she plans to mention it. She has no intention of trusting anyone enough to let herself be vulnerable again.
A lifetime ago, growing up in a Highland glen, Jamesina Ross wrote songs about the land and the kin who had worked it for generations. But her music was no match for the violence her community faced in the Highland Clearances. Jamesina has borne the disfigurements of that day ever since, on her face and inside her head. Her lodger thinks that if she would only dare to open the past, she might have the chance of a future.
This is a story about resilience, memory, resurrection - and those parts of who we are that nobody can take away.
A beautiful exploration of unlooked-for love in later life, its contrariness and its awkward, surprising joys, this is a story about resilience, memory, resurrection - and those parts of who we are that nobody can take away.
'Utterly absorbing' Sunday Post
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM HISTORICAL PRIZE
Jamesina Ross is long finished with men. But one night a stranger seeking lodgings knocks on the door of her tenement flat. He doesn't recognise her, but she remembers him at once. Not that she plans to mention it. She has no intention of trusting anyone enough to let herself be vulnerable again.
A lifetime ago, growing up in a Highland glen, Jamesina Ross wrote songs about the land and the kin who had worked it for generations. But her music was no match for the violence her community faced in the Highland Clearances. Jamesina has borne the disfigurements of that day ever since, on her face and inside her head. Her lodger thinks that if she would only dare to open the past, she might have the chance of a future.
This is a story about resilience, memory, resurrection - and those parts of who we are that nobody can take away.
A beautiful exploration of unlooked-for love in later life, its contrariness and its awkward, surprising joys, this is a story about resilience, memory, resurrection - and those parts of who we are that nobody can take away.
About the author
Sally Magnusson's third novel delves again into the experience of women on which the historical record is largely silent - this time placing a Victorian washer-woman of low class, despised race, advancing age and brilliant but injured mind into exhilarating light, and exploring the effect of brutal community displacement. Her debut novel, The Sealwoman's Gift (2018), about the experience of a seventeenth century Icelandic woman abducted into slavery, was shortlisted for 6 literary prizes. The Ninth Child (2020) was acclaimed for its blend of historical realism and chilling folklore. She is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling memoir, Where Memories Go: Why Dementia changes Everything (2016).
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
