Brilliant book about the seven ages of man - in this case a woman - told through the mists of dementia. A little improbable in parts but not enough to detract from a very moving story.
When the Music stops by Joe Heap is an unusual and compelling story about life, loss and music. It’s the story of Ella, a session musician, through the course of her life with alternating chapters of her as an 87 year old dementing woman stranded alone on a sinking boat with a baby. Haunting and lyrical, it is a truly comforting book and the image of life as a record is for me a helpful way of holding love and loss close and being in the wholeness of one’s life. Very readable and hard to put down.
This is the most exciting new book I have read for ages. It starts with Ella who is an old woman, who finds herself on a yacht with her grandson and then traces her life through the 'Seven Ages of Man'. The yacht is called Mnemosyne who is the goddess of memory and mother of the muses. The 7 ages are also echoed with 7 ancient modes of musical notation, she is a guitarist, showing how music and memory are linked. I cannot do this book justice in this review. It is about love and loss, and after reading I think you will find that those you have lost are somehow closer to you again. For me it was a remarkable book and I hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I did.