Synopses & Reviews
William Fiennes spent his childhood in a moated castle, the perfect environment for a child with a brimming imagination. It is a house alive with history, beauty, and mystery, but the young boy growing up in it is equally in awe of his brother Richard. Eleven years older and a magnetic presence, Richard suffers from severe epilepsy. His illness influences the rhythms of the family and the house's internal life, and his story inspires a journey, interwoven with a loving recollection, toward an understanding of the mind.
This is a song of home, of an adored brother and the miracle of consciousness. The chill of dark historical places coexists with the warmth and chatter of the family kitchen; the surrounding landscapes are distinguished by ancient trees, secret haunts, the moat's depths and temptations. Bursting with tender detail, The Music Room is a sensuous tribute to place, memory, and the permanence of love.
Review
"It is a beautiful and fortifying book, even a great one." Nicholas Shakespeare
Review
"This is no misery memoir...on the contrary, it is a thoughtful and lyrical account of an extraordinary childhood." Daily Telegraph (UK)
Review
"This is a moving book, written with sensitivity. Fiennes writes with great precision and skill; his images stay with you." John Burnside Guardian (UK)
Review
"Fiennes has a poet's gift for creating images that are fresh and original...yet so natural as to seem almost inevitable." Financial Times
Review
Beautifully written...detailed without being overblown, precise without being precious. Spectator (UK)
Review
Evocative and wistful...glows with the joy of remembrance.
Review
The Music Room has an elegiac feel, not least
Synopsis
This is a song of home, of an adored brother and the miracle of consciousness. The chill of dark historical places coexists with the warmth and chatter of the family kitchen; the surrounding landscapes are distinguished by ancient trees, secret haunts, the moat s depths and temptations. Bursting with tender detail, The Music Room is a sensuous tribute to place, memory, and the permanence of love. "
Synopsis
A bittersweet description of an ancient family house in an enchanted setting, and of growing up with a damaged brother.
About the Author
William Fiennes’s first book, The Snow Geese, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, the Hawthornden Prize, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He lives in England.