Can anyone remember this book?

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

There was a book I loved when I was about 12-13, I think - around 1990 and I don't think it was brand new. It was a story set in Cornwall and was good about the sea, cliffs etc. The main character was a teen or pre-teen girl who was good at piano and had to go on a train for an audition to music school in London. I. The audition she binned off her practised piece and improvised a piece of her own inspired by the Cornwall landscape.

Does it ring a bell for anyone? I think the name Oliver was in it somewhere but not sure I remember why.

It's not Requiem for a Princess is it? Has some similarities.

I don't think so - I don't remember there being a time slip element - but that looks good! I might have a read of that one day.

Hmm. Had the main character recently lost her mother in a car accident?

Maybe. I can't remember but that rings a bell - whether power of suggestion or an actual memory. There was a definite melancholy feeling in general around the book and the main character.

It was called Lizzie Oliver but I can't remember who it was by. There was a follow up also, set in the music school in London. I loved this book as a kid!

Yes @NumberCurtains , that's definitely the book I'm thinking of! Thank you!

That's it! So it was the violin, not the piano, but I recognised the cover straight away. Brilliant - thank you.

🙂 Thanks for reminding me of this book. I might get hold of a copy for myself daughter.

I have been meaning to pick this up for a while as I think it might be a book I remember from childhood. Does she now live with her dad and his GF/new wife near Hampstead heath (?) and is there a scene where she gives chopped liver (dog food) to a bully at school?

I haven't managed to get a copy yet so haven't refreshed my memory - looking forward to finding out!

I remember this! I’m sure the author’s first name was Catherine. Something like Catherine Robinson?

You’re right - here’s a pic of the cover from Amazon.

The book is called Lizzie Oliver by Catherine Robson.

I had been looking for years for it. I read it when I was 11/12 maybe and it’s deeply ingrained in my brain, 18 years later.