The Music Shop is a heartfelt and compelling story in which Frank and Ilse take risks and the healing power of music and love is poignantly illustrated.

Genre/Categories/Setting: Fiction, Friendship, Music, Music Shop, London

Welcome to #ThrowBackThursday where I highlight an older review or post a current review of a backlist title. Today, I’m resharing a unique story, The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce.

I’m linking up with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #ThrowbackThursday.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Set in the 1980s on a run-down street in a forgotten suburb of London, there is a small indie music shop that is jam-packed with vinyl records of every kind. Frank, the shop’s owner, has a way of connecting his customers with the exact piece of music they never knew they needed, he welcomes the lonely, and he goes out of his way to help others.

One ordinary day, a beautiful young woman in a green coat, Ilse Brauchmann, comes into his music shop and changes his life. Frank feels an attraction to her and yet he fears developing any closeness; in spite of his reservations, he begins to teach her about music and they develop a close friendship based on their common musical interests.

Frank is terrified of his feelings for Ilse, yet he’s drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with eyes as black as vinyl. It’s complicated because Ilse has secrets and Frank has a past that haunts him. Readers find out about Frank’s life with his eccentric mother through flashbacks; however, Ilse remains mysterious. While Frank and Ilse contemplate the risks of a relationship, there are events in the community that threaten the livelihood of all the small, independent shops including Frank’s music shop. A further complication for Frank is the growing popularity of cassette tapes and CDs while Frank cherishes the world of vinyl.

The healing power of music and love…

Continue here for my full review of The Music Shop…

QOTD:

Are you a Rachel Joyce fan?
Other books I’ve reviewed by Joyce: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Miss Benson’s Beetle