Fiction books about music

[Comefromaway]

I'm struggling to get ds to read fiction. Are there any books about music or musicians where music is an integral part of the story especially if any aspect of theory or harmony is incorporated?

He loves 80's music, musical theatre and film scores especially.

High Fidelity?

Is that more about listening to music rather than playing/composing though?

“Moon Over Soho” is the second in the Rivers of London series and is set among Soho jazz musicians (several of whom meet a sticky end).

I really enjoyed "An Equal Music" by Vikram Seth main character is a violinist in a quartet.

Soul music by Terry Pratchett

It's about a very talented 'bard' who finds an especially unusual and somewhat enchanting 'stringed instrument a bit like a lute' who makes 'music with rocks in' and is a total revolutionary

Does it have to be fiction though? There are loads of excellent non fiction books in this genre, especially biographies and memoirs.

I learned a lot about classical singing reading A Sweet Obscurity by Patrick Gale. It's a really good book but I can't imagine a teenage boy reading it.

Oh, Espedeair Street by Iain Banks! He'll love it. It's about a student band's rise to fame but it's about much more than that. Music is absolutely central to the story and it's beautifully written. Recommended!

I've just thought about another amazing novel, Twelve Bar Blues, by Patrick Neate. I loved this. It's ostensibly about jazz and blues but underneath lies a compelling analysis of racial dynamics. So well written too!

Out of my two recs, I'd say Espedair Street is likely to appeal the most to a teenager.

It doesn’t have to be fiction but he needs to read more fiction to help him with his own vocabulary and ideas for creative writing in his GCSE. He reads mostly biographies and similar and not always of the highest quality.

Music and Silence by Rose Tremain is all about musicians in the Danish court of the C17th.

One of the (split) chapters of Cloud Atlas is about a composer and his amanuensis.

The Gustav sonata is good.

I’ve just finished Daisy Jones and the Six, which is about a band and they talk a lot about songwriting.
Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett, also has an accompanying album by Kathryn Williams

Daisy Jones... is written as if it’s interview transcripts, which may be a bit marmite but I enjoyed it

Michel Faber’s The Courage Consort.

Tender Wire by Claire Kilroy. I adored it. A thriller about a stradivarius violin.

The Commitments, maybe? Roddy Doyle.
The Rotters Club (Jonathan Coe) has lots of 70s politics and news themes, but the main characters are teenage boys who focus on music a lot.

There's a book by Tabitha Suzuma (I think, I may have the name slightly wrong) called "A Note of Madness" which is about a student at the Royal College of Music. He has MH problems, and it follows his year at the RCM, through diagnosis, treatment, his friends and family etc, but the music studies are an integral part of the story.
We read it a few years ago when I was homeschooling my DS, he was about 14/15 iirc, and we both thought it was really good.

Patrick Gale's most recent novel, Take Nothing With You

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeline Thien is excellent, the comfort and love of music is so well written in this. There’s even Spotify playlists of the pieces mentioned in it!

Spellsinger series by Alan Dean Foster
Crystal singer series by Anne McCaffrey

www.goodreads.com/list/show/2142.YA_Music_Books

Also by Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong and Dragonsinger are two of her Pern series that tell the story of the first girl to become a Harper in many years. Music is the only form of basic education on the planet Pern, to teach everyone their rights, responsibilities, and duties to the basically feudal society they live in.
The rest of them are good too (well the ones she wrote before her son got involved are ) but those two feature the Harper Hall particularly.

Another vote here for The Gustav Sonata.

Here you go:

www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/books/review/classical-music-fiction.html