| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Like the sea he describes so well, Patrick Gale's clear, unforced prose sucks one in effortlessly … he is excellent at the telling detail and description.' Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail
'There are no false notes in this book.' Marie Claire
'”Rough Music” … is an astute, sensitive and at times tragically uncomfortable meditation on sex, lies and family…. a fabulously unnerving book… a hugely compelling writer.' Independent on Sunday
'It would be churlish to divulge more of the plot, suffice to say that it is as ingenious in design as it is generous in spirit.' Sunday Express
‘Patrick Gale's novels grip tightly, like swaddling clothes, stunning the reader into a state of lolling, contented absorption. How does he do it?' TLS
'”Rough Music”, like its predecessors, belongs to a broad canon of works by English rural moralists. Think Austen, Hardy or Murdoch … His plots – seemingly effortless, but closely structured – resemble Iris Murdoch's … Gripping, elegant and wise.' Independent
Product Description
A gripping and unnerving story of a family’s secrets and lies, from the bestselling author of ‘Notes from an Exhibition’.
Julian as a small boy is taken on the perfect Cornish holiday. When glamorous American cousins unexpectedly swell the party, however, emotions run high and events spiral out of control. Though he has been brought up in the forbidding shadow of the prison his father runs, though his parents are neither as normal nor as happy as he supposes, Julian’s world view is the sunnily selfish, accepting one of boyhood. It is only when he becomes a man – seemingly at ease with love, with his sexuality, with his ghosts – that the traumatic effects of that distant summer rise up to challenge his defiant assertion that he is happy and always has been.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
She walked across the sand carrying a shoe in either hand, drawn forward as much by the great blue moon up ahead as by the sound of the breaking waves. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
She walked across the sand carrying a shoe in either hand, drawn forward as much by the great blue moon up ahead as by the sound of the breaking waves. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a beautifully crafted book in which two generational strands alternate, gradually interweave and finally converge. The characters are entirely credible and perceptively drawn, especially the mother and the main character as a young boy who evokes universal feelings of childhood. A book which is both touching and wise. Utterly absorbing.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the first few pages I was utterly captivated as the author drew me back into a long forgotten childhood. Gale's descriptive style of the Cornish sea and surroundings had me entranced and I was instantly intrigued by the obvious mysteries surrounding the characters. I especially enjoyed the way he used two storylines, one set in the past and one in the present, in each alternate chapter. This book was poignant and thought provoking - the description of Frances's descent into Alzheimers particularly moving. Absorbing, compelling and wonderful, I recommend this book to everyone.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book, found it really hard to put down and have already checked out the author's other books on Amazon for future reading! It is written in an easy to read style but the characters are complex, interesting and sympathetic and left me wanting to know more about them.
It is mainly set around a holiday cottage in Cornwall over two family visits separated by 30 years, and the events of the past slowly unravel and merge with the characters' present day lives, as twists and details are revealed.
If you like strong characters and insights into human relationships this is a great book ... not a lot of action but very thoughtful and it left me with questions about things that were not quite resolved or clear.
It is mainly set around a holiday cottage in Cornwall over two family visits separated by 30 years, and the events of the past slowly unravel and merge with the characters' present day lives, as twists and details are revealed.
If you like strong characters and insights into human relationships this is a great book ... not a lot of action but very thoughtful and it left me with questions about things that were not quite resolved or clear.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thought provoking and touching novel
Patrick Gale is a prolific author but I was only introduced to his writing two years ago by my sister when she recommended Notes from An Exhibition(2007) and lent me a copy of The... Read more
Published 10 months ago by LindyLouMac
Excellent read: Rough Music by Patrick Gale
I enjoyed this book immensely. The story is very well written and cleverly crafted. Author employed a difficult technique and succeeded.
Published 10 months ago by Beibhinn Carroll
Good beach read, particularly in Cornwall!
Just finished reading this, my 3rd or 4th Patrick Gale novel, and whilst the story kept me interested, wanting to know how the 1960s holiday panned out and whether my suspicions... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Shelf Elf
big disappointment
This book was disappointing on a number of levels but mostly because the characters were so two dimensional and stereotypical. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by A reviewer
The best so far...
I have read four novels by Patrick Gale so far and, in my opinion, this is the best of the four (the others being 'Aerodynamics of Pork', 'Facts of Life' and 'Facing the Tank'). Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2009 by Iain C. Davidson
Tender and sensual
Rough Music is a tender and sensual novel depicting a marriage and family. It can only add to the growing reputation of Patrick Gale as one of the finest writers of modern literary... Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Smooth Passage for Rough Music
This is the second book I've read by Patrick Gale, the first being 'Notes From An Exhibition'. Both are well written in an apparently simple style, that nevertheless conveys an... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2009 by David Baker
Best read in ages
I took this book on holiday, and couldn't put it down. He keeps you guessing until the end, def. the best I have read since the Kite runner.
Published on 12 Aug 2009 by Topkat
One beach house one family
This story is split into two but it involves all the same characters staying at two beach houses Beachcomber and Blue House, each chapter tells us, the reader what beach house we... Read more
Published on 4 July 2009 by Joanne D'Arcy
Wonderful, wonderful Patrick Gale
I am on my third Patrick Gale novel in as many weeks. He writes soooooooo well about family tensions and dynamics. This is incredibly reminiscent of childhood....loving it.
Published on 2 July 2009 by Suzipong
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
