{"product_id":"music-against-the-night-9780008647810","title":"Music Against the Night","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘May well be the most perfectly constructed, moving, and beautiful novel I've ever read’\u003c\/strong\u003e ANN PATCHETT\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘One of the most important writers alive’ \u003c\/strong\u003eTASH AW\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A wise and wonderful book’ \u003c\/strong\u003eANNE ENRIGHT\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcclaimed Pulitzer-Prize winner Yiyun Li, returns with a sweeping historical epic, following two extraordinary musicians on the rise.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn Dublin, as the eighteenth century nears its end, a young musical virtuoso comes of age. John Field is able to hear notes in the air, and his family aspires for him to become the next Mozart. His talent takes him far – to England, France, and then Russia, where he becomes a famous pianist and composes dreamy melodies that enchant the night air. John calls them nocturnes, but the prodigy who immortalizes them is Chopin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOceans away in Pondicherry, French India, Adelaide Percheron embarks on a startling rise of her own. Orphaned at a young age, she is raised by her enterprising grandmother. Without the luxury of riches, only marriage seems to offer prosperity – until she sets her sights on a pianoforte. Driven by her love of music, she engineers her exodus, escaping to Paris and later to Moscow, as Napoleon’s army sets out to conquer the continent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePeopled by rival prodigies, irate tutors and begrudging guardians, Yiyun Li’s magisterial novel depicts two aspiring musicians – destined to be husband and wife – in pursuit of success. As John and Adelaide each try to chart a path between talent and genius, profit and passion, they must decide what, and even who, is worth sacrificing along the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing inspiration from the past but finding entirely new forms, \u003cem\u003eMusic Against the Night\u003c\/em\u003e is an exquisite, exhilarating epic from a writer at the height of her powers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Virtuosic in every way … a spellbinding read’ \u003c\/strong\u003eMAAZA MENGISTE, author of\u003cem\u003e The Shadow King\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Wondrous … wise and sad and beautifully-written’ \u003c\/strong\u003eLOUISE KENNEDY, author of \u003cem\u003eStations\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A sharply observed tale of ambition, art and sacrifice that speaks to current times’ \u003c\/strong\u003eTASH AW, author of \u003cem\u003eThe South\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780008647810\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 27 Oct 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: HarperCollins Publishers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.3(L)x2.8(W)440\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 440\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eYiyun Li is the author of twelve books of fiction and non-fiction. She is the recipient of many awards, including a Guardian First Book Award, the Sunday Times Short Story Award, the PEN\/Faulkner Award, an International Writer Award from the Royal Society of Literature, a MacArthur Fellowship and a Windham-Campbell Prize, and she won the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir 2026. In 2026, Li was named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People of the Year. She is the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e‘Readers of Li will already know that \u003cstrong\u003eshe soars far above the well-meant strivings of lesser writers, occupying a luminous realm of her own\u003c\/strong\u003e … The result is \u003cstrong\u003epure readerly pleasure\u003c\/strong\u003e … Li conveys life without apparent effort. Major is the word’ \u003cem\u003eGuardian\u003c\/em\u003e ‘Book of the Day’\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cem\u003eMusic Against the Night\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003emay well be the most perfectly constructed, moving, and beautiful novel I've ever read\u003c\/strong\u003e. Yiyun Li is the best of all of us’ Ann Patchett, author of \u003cem\u003eWhistler\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eWondrous\u003c\/strong\u003e … brilliant on talent and ambition, disappointment and hope. It is \u003cstrong\u003ewise and sad and beautifully-written\u003c\/strong\u003e, and witty too. I greatly admire Yiyun Li's work’ Louise Kennedy, author of \u003cem\u003eStations\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘I left this novel – her ninth work of fiction – keenly aware that I’d been\u003cstrong\u003e in the presence of a world-class artist\u003c\/strong\u003e’ \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘As a meditation on the question of who we remember, and which lives fall by the wayside … \u003cstrong\u003eit dazzles\u003c\/strong\u003e’ \u003cem\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Li balances beauty and futility in the tragic, lovely bargain that artists make with the world, with death, and with music itself. \u003cem\u003eMusic Against the Night\u003c\/em\u003e is \u003cstrong\u003ea wise and wonderful book\u003c\/strong\u003e’ Anne Enright, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Wren, The Wren\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eVirtuosic in every way\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMusic Against the Night\u003c\/em\u003e is a spellbinding read. Through Adelaide Percheron and John Field, we are forced to ask: What price must children pay to be ushered into the world of adults? At what cost, their talents and gifts? Yiyun Li gathers the unflinching answers that emerge and presents them to us with \u003cstrong\u003eprose so beautiful it is a form of mercy\u003c\/strong\u003e’ Maaza Mengiste, author of\u003cem\u003e The Shadow King\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘At once a gorgeously reimagined epic and \u003cstrong\u003ea sharply observed tale of ambition, art and sacrifice \u003c\/strong\u003ethat speaks to current times. \u003cstrong\u003eYiyun Li is one of the most important writers alive, constantly in search of new ways of telling the most urgent stories\u003c\/strong\u003e’ Tash Aw, author of \u003cem\u003eThe South\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eWonderful and bewitching\u003c\/strong\u003e … the kind of sui generis novel that doesn’t come around that often’ \u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003cstrong\u003eA luminous epic\u003c\/strong\u003e’ \u003cem\u003eBookseller\u003c\/em\u003e","brand":"Yiyun Li","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51528074789081,"sku":"9780008647810","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780008647810.jpg?v=1794035239","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/music-against-the-night-9780008647810","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}