Music Against the Night

Yiyun Li, in this sweeping epic, brings us two unforgettable characters based on two extraordinary musicians on the rise.

John Field was born in 1782 in Dublin and went on to become one of the leading musicians of his era in Russia. He coined the term “nocturne” for the form that would later be popularized by his contemporary—who is now much more famous—Chopin. His wife, Adelaide Percheron, born in French Pondicherry in India, eventually came to train alongside Field as a pianist. Her extraordinary life was fueled by her limitless ambition—though her path to success as an artist would meet with greater frustration.

Their story spans seventy years and multiple continents, from Dublin to England to France, Russia, and India. Music Against the Night explores the cultivation and exploitation of artistic talent, the ambition of artists and the ways in which art is commercialized, and themes of history, politics, and migration. Yiyun Li brings a period of strife and change to vivid life in a thrilling, absorbing saga.