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Book Cover for: The Music Room: A Memoir, William Fiennes

The Music Room: A Memoir

William Fiennes

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.

Book Details

  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • Publish Date: Sep 1st, 2010
  • Pages: 226
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.22in - 6.58in - 0.55in - 0.40lb
  • EAN: 9780393338782
  • Categories: Memoirs

About the Author

Fiennes, William: - 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.

Praise for this book

A haunting lament for a life that could have been and the love that remained for a broken mind.--Amanda Foreman, author of The Duchess
Humane rather than melodramatic, a lovely memoir rich with poignancy of family and place.-- "Wall Street Journal"
An artful memory piece about a unique home life.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
Exemplary.-- "The Telegraph"