The Travelling Hornplayer

This is the first of Trapido's novels I've read and I confess to being thoroughly smitten. This is, to put it oddly, the most beautifully structured novel I've read in many years. There's sixteen-year-old Lydia Dent, who is very close to her one-year-older sister, Ellen. There's Jonathan the Novelist, on whom Lydia develops a serious crush . . . and outside whose flat she is run over by an automobile. There's Jonathan's daughter, Stella the Nuisance Chip, who grows from a very unpromising childhood into an astonishingly beautiful and talented musician. Ellen, Jonathan, and Stella take turns telling the story, each from a quite different viewpoint, and being interrupted occasionally by an omniscient narrator who makes sure the reader is aware of certain things. These key characters are extremely well developed and you'll know them intimately by the end of the book, but even the supporting cast are multi-dimensional: Pen Massingham, the wealthy young Catholic schoolmate of Ellen's and Stella's; Izzy, the thoroughly disgusting young artist of genius; Ellen's and Lydia's stepmother (known to them as The Stepmother); Jonathan's wife, Katherine, who has dedicated her life to her daughter; Sonia, the brilliant and vivacious lover-turned friend -- even Jonathan's younger siblings are drawn believably and with great care. I often imagine how a novel I enjoy could be redone as a film script -- since novels and scripts are very different forms of literature -- but this is one time I'll take a pass. There's absolutely nothing in this very funny, very touching novel that could be excised without fatally damaging all the rest of it. Trapido goes on my permanent "watch" list.

"The Travelling Hornplayer" is the first I've read of Barbara Trapido's and it won't be the last. It's such a pleasure reading this finely written yet understated gem of novel I didn't want it to end. It's hard to describe the type of novel TH is because it's got all the elements of mystery, intrigue, personal tragedy, loss and betrayal that provide the natural ingredients for a great novel but it is only in Trapido's expert hands that all these elements come together to produce a finely judged and balanced whole. The novel is personal, warm and engaging. Her characters - without exception, down to the minor ones - are brilliantly defined and come to life. They leap out at you from the pages like real human beings because they're neither good nor bad, just people with all their frailties. Recounted in flashback and by rotation through the eyes of Ellen, Jonathan and Stella, Trapido weaves together personal contemplation, plot development and social commentary into a complex mosaic of splendour and intrigue. Lydia, a ghost-like figure hovering over the proceedings, is the catalyst for the novel's dramatic development. She is also the glue that binds the loose pieces together. Trapido's genius is to engineer a denouement that is emotionally congruent, satisfying and uplifting. Amidst the avalanche of new titles being published each week, it is easy to miss this wonderfully little gem of a novel. It would have escaped my attention had it not won the Whitbread Prize award. Please don't miss it. "The Travelling Hornplayer" deserves to be read by all who love good literature.

This is my first Barbara Trepido book- And i'm absolutely delighted with it! The different storytellers in the book brings to life the plot with their personal narration. Each spin their part of the tale by recounting their life experiences, and this culminates in an intricately woven plot littered with unexpected revelations that fit perfectly together like lost pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As the plot unfolds, the characters' lives unfold before us, and one cannot help but feel for them and even relating to them. Bizarre and almost exotic their lives may be, yet there are qualities in Barbara's characters that the reader can identify with. In the midst of admiring them for their talent and beauty, we pity Ellen for the loss of her sister; we wonder at, yet understand Katherine's maniacal zeal in caring for her daughter; we shrug at Stella's fragile sense of insecurity and over-commitment to her boyfriend. Barbara explores love, loss and betrayal, death, lonliness and ingratitude in her quirky and comical manner, interspersed with allusions to Wilheim Muller and Conrad which seem to be the connecting thread throughout the novel. The plot comes full circle, the ending even if a little too coincidental, pulls the curtains on this story to a splendid close, deserving of a standing ovation.

I felt almost as thought P. G. Wodehouse had been reincarnated in the body of a 90's woman, so droll and sly is the humor and intelligence of the main characters, even as they deal with all the traditional and contemporary tragedies--accidental death, AIDS, crib death, suicide, dyslexia, adultery. The story revolves around the tragic death of a young girl, 17-year old Lydia Dent, and how each of the characters come to be directly or indirectly involved in her death, without realizing it or knowing each other until the beautiful tapestry of this plot brings them together. Excellent book

Trapido's collection of characters, as intelligent and witty as we'd like to be in real life, seem to come full circle in this latest novel. with amazing and stunning twists and turns ultimately it feels as if you are catching up on the interesting parts of peoples lifetimes, meeting old friends. sexy in an understated way and genuinely moving over all, this is a book i have read so many times and cannot recommend highly enough.