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Serious Music

By Percival Everett
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Brief Description
It turned out that my music had never left me. It had been stolen, yes, but not stolen away. I had simply never been free to play it . . . When Arthur Champion, a gifted young music scholar, is sent away to war, he experiences... Read More
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Releases 2nd March 2027 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "Serious Music" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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The magnificent new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-shortlisted author of JAMES.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

It turned out that my music had never left me. It had been stolen, yes, but not stolen away. I had simply never been free to play it . . .

When Arthur Champion, a gifted young music scholar, is sent away to war, he experiences the horrors of the Somme trenches. Surviving the slaughter, he begins to forge a new life for himself, discovering the profound, subversive power of his own musical voice.

His extraordinary odyssey takes him from playing in the jazz clubs of Paris to performing for Woodrow Wilson in the White House, and back again, his only constant companions his humour, his abiding love for music, and the racism of the age. This is a profoundly moving novel about trauma, survival, and the weaponisation of art.

Serious Music is the outstanding story of a young Black manโ€™s struggle to find his place in a world that resents his very existence. It is sure to cement Percival Everettโ€™s reputation as one of Americaโ€™s greatest writers.

โ€˜An American master at the peak of his powersโ€™ โ€“ Financial Times

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035092376

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 March 2027

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Macmillan

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 153.0mm

Height: 234.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 304

Collections

Coming Soon in Fiction Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Percival Everett Pre-order Books Pre-order General Fiction Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date

About the Author

Percival Everett is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr. No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. An instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller in hardback, James was a finalist for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Fiction, was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and was named the Winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction, the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Percival Everett lives in Los Angeles.

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