Up the Creek Book Club

The Song of Names

by Norman Lebrecht

April 2004

Synopsis

"The Song of Names is a magnificent novel, steeped in music and suspense, of a man's fort-year search for his childhood friend, a violin prodigy, who mysteriously disappeared on the eve of his debut performance.

As a boy, Martin falls under the spell of Dovidl, a Jewish boy whose parents left him in the care of Martin's father before they vanished into the vortex of the Holocaust. The boys become closer than brothers as they roam the ruins of wartime London. But, on the afternoon of his international debut, Dovidl disappears and sets in motion a search that will haunt martin for most of his life. Until, one wintry night, an unexpected musical clue sets him on the trail to an astounding act of self-discovery and renewal.

Unraveling the complex strands of love, envy, and exploitation that bind geniuses to their admirers, Norman Lebrecht has created a novel in the grant nineteenth-century tradition, bursting with ideas and feeling."

Whitbread First Novel Award Winner

Book Club Rating and Comments

We really enjoyed this book. It is very well written. There were some unresolved loose ends, which may have been the authors intent. All in all, a very satisfactory read. If you or your book club has read this book and would like to share your comments, please email us at upthecreekbc@yahoo.com.