The Chimes

Congratulations to Anna Smaill, whose debut novel The Chimes has been longlisted for the Man Booker prize this year. It's one of the most unusual books I've read in a while, and although I must admit I wasn't quite convinced by the ending, or at least the pacing of the ending, the hypnotic strangeness of the opening and the wonderful use of the musical lexicon to create a distinctive, evocative style has stayed with me. It also means that it's been a good couple of years for literature drawing on classical music: Richard Powers's hugely impressive Orfeo was nominated last year, and now we have Anna Smaill's haunting The Chimes.