The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

The Music ShopThe Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fan of Rachel Joyce's Harold Fry character and storytelling in her previous books I was thrilled to receive an early copy of "The Music Shop". To my delight, Joyce's main character in this book, Frank, as well as the other main characters, are a wonderful community of eccentric, delightful, and somewhat misfit cast. The recollections Frank has of the stories about the musicians and music his mother told were wonderfully woven into the storyline. Joyce also intriguingly portrays how our past can drive us toward redemption and hope, yet also sometimes "haunt us" and bring us down. I was engaged throughout the story as this unfolded in each of the characters. Frank, Ilse, Kit, Father Anthony, and even Maud had me cheering and hoping for redemption and happy endings for all of them. An example of how the many musical descriptive passages seemed to connect me to the characters and their storyline was: "She said music worked like a conversation. Sometimes the violins were telling the same story, and sometimes they were having an argument; first one led the way, then the other. They might be so close they were like a piece of braid, or so far apart they had to call for one another across the dark." I recommend this book for all who seek redemption, hope, and kindness -with a little musical reflection to go along with it.

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