Many of us soundtrack our lives with favourite songs and albums by musicians we love – but how often do we read books about this indelible part of our day-to-day? These ten novels about music and musicians bring the stage to the page.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones And The Six tells the story of a (fictional) 1970s pop-rock band, from their formation to international fame and chart-topping hits. It’s styled as an oral history, a Behind The Music-esque series of interviews with the band members, aimed at uncovering – for the first time – why the band split at the height of their success. As the tagline on the cover promises, everyone was there, but everyone remembers it differently. Read my full review of Daisy Jones & The Six here.
A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
A Visit From The Goon Squad defies easy definition, in that it reads like a novel but it’s actually thirteen interrelated short stories. Each story follows someone connected to record company executive Bennie Salazar: his assistant, his former band-mate, his wife, a producer, a journalist, a friend… Each story finds them at a different stage in life, at different places and periods in time (from California to New York to Italy to Kenya, from the 1970s to the 2020s), disparate pieces of a puzzle that takes a while to come together. Read my full review of A Visit From The Goon Squad here.
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
Classical violinist Anna Sun is burnt out. She reached the pinnacle of viral success with a YouTube video, and she has driven herself crazy trying to replicate it. And now, her long-term boyfriend announces that he wants an open relationship. That’s where The Heart Principle begins – and, true to form for a Helen Hoang romance novel, Anna responds to this turn of events in a very healthy way, by setting out to have as much inappropriate sex as possible. Read my full review of The Heart Principle here.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
High Fidelity is pretty much a modern classic. Pop music fanatic Rob’s girlfriend recently left him for a neighbour – luckily, the kooky sales assistants at his barely-solvent record store provide an excellent distraction. He’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contact, and even more luckily, he meets a singer who fits the bill. It seems like it’s all going just the way he hoped, until he runs into his ex and starts to realise that more there’s maybe to her soft-rock lifestyle than he originally thought.
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
Kris Pulaski used to be a rock star. She was the lead guitarist of heavy metal band Dürt Würk in the ’90s, and seemed to be on the fast track to success – until the career of the lead singer took off, and she got left behind. Now, she’s “tired, broke, and unhappy”, and she knows exactly who to blame. In We Sold Our Souls, Kris undertakes an epic journey – “from the Pennsylvania rust belt to a celebrity rehab center to a satanic music festival” – in the hopes of getting the band back together… and confronting the man who tried to ruin it all.
A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu
Child prodigies are cute, but have you ever wondered what happens to them when they grow up? The story of one such prodigy unfolds in A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing. Jena’s career as a violinist came to a screeching halt as a teenager, after a public humiliation that “blew up the lives” of her, her family, and her teacher. She has retreated from the spotlight, playing as part of an orchestra, and uses self-destructive sex to fill the void (heads up: it’s not one for the prudish, Jena is… unabashed). Read my full review of A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing here.
Her Fidelity by Katherine Pollock
Kathy, the protagonist of Her Fidelity, is rapidly approaching 30 and she’s been working at Dusty’s Records – Brisbane’s premier (fictional) music store – for literally half her life. The industry has changed, but Kathy hasn’t… much. Can she keep this up forever? This delightful, devourable novel is based on Pollock’s own experience working in record stores and what it’s like to be a woman in the music industry, lending it a ring of authenticity you’re unlikely to find elsewhere. Read my full review of Her Fidelity here.
A Brief History Of Seven Killings by Marlon James
A Brief History Of Seven Killings is an exhilarating novel that centers on the (real!) assassination attempt on the life of iconic Jamaican musician, Bob Marley. The violence came at the culmination of a period of massive social and political upheaval in Jamaica, just two days before the general election of 1976. Marlon James traces these events, and their ripple effects, across decades and continents.
Kiss The Girl by Zoraida Córdova
Kiss The Girl is the third installment in the Meant To Be series (adapting the stories of Disney classics in contemporary romance novels). In this take on The Little Mermaid, Ariel del Mar – “the girl who has everything” – is looking forward to winding down her career as a singer in the Siren Seven and enjoying a taste of normal life, but her father has other plans. Desperate for one night of freedom before her patriarch-mandated solo career launches, she sneaks out to a rock gig in Brooklyn and meets Eric, the singer of an up-and-coming band. He invites her to join him and his band on their tour for the summer – and Ariel gets a taste of the life she could have as part of his world.
DeadStar by Nick Griffiths
Garth Tyson tried (and failed) to be the next David Bowie. After a spectacular implosion at the Glastonbury Festival, he disappeared without a trace. In DeadStar, decades later, his former bandmates, friends, girlfriends, and other assorted hangers-on agree to talk to a journalist and collectively tell his story. The story covers the period 1959 to 1985, from the dying breaths of traditional rock’n’roll, through the shooting star of punk and the swell of New Wave in London. Read my full review of DeadStar here.
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