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Amazon.co.uk Review
This treasure house of delights, as haunting as it is pleasurable, teems with characters, real and imagined; with intrigues, searches, betrayals, in vivid scene after scene which loop in and out, back and forth, like overlapping and repeated chords.
King Christian IV of Denmark is, in the year of 1630, living in a limbo of fear and rage for his life, his country's ruin, and his wife's not-so-secret adultery. He consoles himself with the weaving of impossible dreams and with music--played by his Royal Orchestra in the freezing cellar at Rosenborg while he listens in his cosy Vinterstue above. Music, he hopes, will create the sublime order he craves. Kirsten, his devious wife, is a continual maker of Beautiful Plans to outwit, avenge, feed her greed. And she detests music.
The awkward duty of assuaging the King's miseries falls to his English lutenist, Peter Claire, his "Angel", whilst Emilia Tilsen must bend to Kirsten's every whim. Yet what Peter and Emilia seek is each other, largely in silence both necessary and cruelly imposed. Other stories, each of them full of fabulous and often joyful and witty invention, intertwine through the Royal Court's machinations: the King's mother who hoards her gold in secret; his boyhood friend, Bror, a tormenting memory; the villagers who suffer and wait in the frozen Numedal; Emilia's mute young brother Marcus. And in Ireland, Johnnie O'Fingal, once a kind father and husband, is driven mad by hearing music of utter divinity in his dreams, but which neither he nor Peter Claire can make earthbound. His devoted but spirited wife has distracted herself with Claire, but now finds herself rejected. Palpable with desire and longing, this extraordinary narrative builds its grand themes in storytelling that is both profound and wonderfully satisfying. --Ruth Petrie --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Among the many characters both real and fictitious, Tremain enlivens one of the 17th century's most striking monarchs: Christian IV of Denmark, called the Sun King for the dazzling sweep of his ambitions. While reading this book I visited his tomb, outside Copenhagen. Music & Silence was the perfect introduction to the king and his world.
It's worth noting that readers in Denmark, more familiar with this history than I, have loved this book.
Probably I should give this five stars and a glowing review and then try to sell my copy. However I thought the book was very poor indeed. Read more
This book has some of the most lyrical, beautifully written passages I have ever read... Read more
I thought this book was really very slow and boring! After reading her other books which I loved, it was a great disappointment - which lasted for weeks!
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