Grace Notes
Grace Notes is a novel by
shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize
for Fiction.
Plot summary
The book centers around the
Catholic Church
on her family and her childhood. She engages her depression through the cathartic and intuitive composition of music; later in the book, she begins to craft a master symphony. The novel ends with a powerful live radio broadcast of her symphony.
The title is an explicit reference to grace notes, which a character in the novel terms as "the notes between the notes". The redeeming power of art is indeed a prominent theme. In addition, critics have considered the concept of fleeting and minute musical notes as descriptive of the novel's style (Donath).
References
- The Richmond Review
- Harte, Liam. Literary Encyclopedia
- Donath, Reinhard. Bernard MacLaverty - Grace Notes (1997)
- The Man Booker Prize 2007