The Music of The Children Act

Music features prominently in Ian McEwan’s new book The Children Act. The book’s protagonist Fiona Mayes, a family court judge, is also an accomplished pianist, and both she and her husband Jack are lovers of jazz.  Almost every important moment in the book, aside from the first scene and Fiona’s time in the courtroom, occurs while music is being played or listened to. I love how McEwan weaves the musical themes seamlessly throughout the story, informing character, time and place. I listened to the Audible book (a fabulous performance by Linsday Duncan), and found myself wishing that someone had thought to add a score to the recording. For those of you reading the Children Act and also wondering what it might sound like, here are some recordings and a little context from the novel. Bach’s Second Partita in C Minor for Keyboard I loved this passage, as Fiona walks to work, trying to distract her thoughts from her failing marriage by recalling the Bach Partita, a distraction that of course, fails. Children. The inevitable thought recurred as she moved on to the demanding fugue she had mastered, for love of her husband, and played at full tilt, without fumbling, without failing to separate the voices. Yes, her childlessness was a fugue it itself. A flight. This was the habitual theme she was trying now to resist. A flight from her proper destiny. A failure to become a woman, as her mother understood the term. How she arrived at her state was a slow pa...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Book Reviews BOoks ian mcewan Music Sally Gardens the CHildren act Source Type: blogs