The Melody of Things (Audiobook)

A compelling account . . . She has taught her readers how to withstand the wrong notes even as we find the melodies that sustain us

The Melody of Things is a paean to the creative act and a manifesto for the joys of looking to our past as well as our future. Nadia Beard writes with lyricism about what it means to engage seriously with art and the pleasures that come from refocusing our fractured minds

So graceful and bittersweet and true

In this exceptional, life-enhancing and original literary work Nadia Beard's shimmering prose lifts us to heights usually reserved only for the most euphonic music. I cannot love it enough

This is a quietly passionate book about returning to an early love – the piano, and finding a new love – Georgia. The author's determination through frustrations and delights is an encouragement to all who might have played a musical instrument once to dare to take it up again

Elegant writing and perceptive reflections make this an assured debut. Nadia Beard has not only achieved milestones in her recovery of her love for music, but in this book, she gives us so much more: portraits of a beguiling city, a rumination on Soviet and Caucasus history, and beautiful sketches of memorable characters. It is a book that fulfils that Socratic dictum of living an examined life