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'Seductively atmospheric . . . deeply moving' Daily Mail 'Brilliant' Observer Alfred Busi, famed in his town for his music and songs, is mourning the recent death of his wife and quietly living out his days in the large villa he has always called home. Then one night Busi is attacked by a creature he disturbs as it raids the contents of his larder. Busi is convinced that what assaulted him was no animal, but a child, innocent and wild, and his words fan the flames of old rumour of an ancient race of people living in the bosk surrounding the town and new controversy: the towns paupers, the feral wastrels at its edges, must be dealt with. Once and for all. Lyrical and warm, intimate and epic, The Melody by Jim Crace tracks the few days that will see Busi and the town he loves altered irrevocably. This is a story about grief and ageing, about reputation and the loss of it, about love and music and the peculiar way myth seeps into real life. And it is a political novel too a rallying cry to protect those we persecute.
This lacked the mystery of his other books I've read. I spent most of the time waiting for something interesting to happen but it really didn't. It's superbly written of course.
The Melody | 
so-so
