Rough Music
A gripping and evocative story of a Cornish holiday, and the dark secrets of family life
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A rich, compelling and beautiful story of a marriage and the secrets a family holds...
'Sparkling with emotional intelligence. A gripping portrait of a marriage and the quiet, devastating fall-out of family life' Independent
'A real craftsman, a master storyteller. Quite simply, you believe every word he tells you' Independent on Sunday
Julian is a contented if naïve only child, and a holiday on the coast of North Cornwall should be perfect, especially when distant American cousins join the party. But their arrival brings upheaval and unexpected turmoil.
It is only as a seemingly well-adjusted adult that Julian is able to reflect on the realities of his parents' marriage, and to recognise that the happy, cheerful boyhood he thought was his is infused with secrets, loss and the memory of betrayals that have shaped his life.
'His clear, unforced prose sucks one in effortlessly' Daily Mail
What readers say about ROUGH MUSIC:
'I'm always impressed by his perceptive powers of observation, of his psychological insight and of his assured handling of his material' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'He takes apart a family teetering on the brink of not really knowing each other, or of being in denial of what they know, and analyses their actions and deeds in an almost forensic detail. A really great book' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'The emotional perspective is something Patrick Gale not only understands but relishes in his writing. His characterisations are superb' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gale (Tree Surgery for Beginners) is an English novelist with a particular gift for family dynamics. Cleverly structured and sophisticated in its treatment of time, his latest novel is an alternately sweet, touching and somber tale of a mildly dysfunctional English family. The book alternates between accounts of two family holidays spent in the same seaside cottage in Cornwall 30 years apart. The sturdy, reliable father, John Pagett, is "governor" (warden) of a British prison, which supplies young Julian with considerable offbeat excitement, particularly when a noted prisoner escapes. Frances, Julian's mother, is a repressed musician who seems to have merely settled for John and domesticity. Thirty years later, John is still much as he was; Julian has become Will and is unhappily gay, carrying on a doomed affair with brother-in-law Sandy; Frances is showing signs of incipient Alzheimer's. As the scenes alternate, Gale slyly enlarges his canvas, embroiling the younger Frances in a brief affair with herbrother-in-law. The domestic details and undercurrents of an English seaside holiday in the vastly differing social climates of the 1950s and '80s are stunningly caught, and the dialogue, whether parent-placid or suddenly gay-quarrelsome, is spot on. The conclusion, for both Will and his parents, brings a deserved glow of quiet reconciliation. The only thing that may slightly mar this highly intelligent and beautifully crafted novel for American readers is its very British emotional reticence, even if that does allow for myriad shades of delicate feeling.
