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Ghost Music
(This is the second edition of Ghost Music, which was originally published by Orion/Hachette. In August 2024 this version won the Gold Medal for literary fiction in the Global ebooks Awards.)
A standalone sequel to the bestselling While the Music Lasts, Ghost Music was inspired by McVeigh’s fifteen years of touring on four continents with London orchestras including the BBC Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique.
"McVeigh defines an orchestra as ‘a combination of the unlikely and the insufferable, attempting the impossible.’ The same may be said of her novel, which smoothly harmonizes disparate themes and perspectives. Sexy and satirical, the narrative captivatingly chronicles personal politics and the world of music, both ghostly and otherwise." - Publishers Weekly
GHOST MUSIC finds the fictional Orchestra of London beset by difficulties. Zimetski, their fiery Polish conductor, drives musicians simultaneously to greater performances and personal desperation, while Pete, the orchestral manager, attempts damage control.
William Mellor, a cellist, buys an antique cello at auction only to discover that it has supernatural qualities. A mysterious young woman then joins the orchestra, captivates the conductor and attempts to captivate William, who's struggling to get back together with his estranged wife. In the end, no force, whether earthly or otherwise, can keep William from confronting the cello’s true nature – as well as his own.
Reviews for Ghost Music
“McVeigh holds nothing back in her account of the backstage life of an orchestra. Although there is no overriding voice, orchestra manager Pete Hegal emerges as the reader's friend. A disillusioned violinist, Pete speaks with McVeigh's wry perception... The tempo rises on the Royal Sinfonia's Greek a musical world that many see as staid and disciplined is turned upside down by McVeigh. The Last Night of the Proms will never seem the same again.” - The Yorkshire Post
“Wonderful!--even better than your first novel. And even more true!” - Vladimir Ashkenazy, Letter to Alice McVeigh
“Ever wondered what goes on in the backstage life of a symphony orchestra? This racy novel was written by someone who knows.” The Daily Mail
A standalone sequel to the bestselling While the Music Lasts, Ghost Music was inspired by McVeigh’s fifteen years of touring on four continents with London orchestras including the BBC Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique.
"McVeigh defines an orchestra as ‘a combination of the unlikely and the insufferable, attempting the impossible.’ The same may be said of her novel, which smoothly harmonizes disparate themes and perspectives. Sexy and satirical, the narrative captivatingly chronicles personal politics and the world of music, both ghostly and otherwise." - Publishers Weekly
GHOST MUSIC finds the fictional Orchestra of London beset by difficulties. Zimetski, their fiery Polish conductor, drives musicians simultaneously to greater performances and personal desperation, while Pete, the orchestral manager, attempts damage control.
William Mellor, a cellist, buys an antique cello at auction only to discover that it has supernatural qualities. A mysterious young woman then joins the orchestra, captivates the conductor and attempts to captivate William, who's struggling to get back together with his estranged wife. In the end, no force, whether earthly or otherwise, can keep William from confronting the cello’s true nature – as well as his own.
Reviews for Ghost Music
“McVeigh holds nothing back in her account of the backstage life of an orchestra. Although there is no overriding voice, orchestra manager Pete Hegal emerges as the reader's friend. A disillusioned violinist, Pete speaks with McVeigh's wry perception... The tempo rises on the Royal Sinfonia's Greek a musical world that many see as staid and disciplined is turned upside down by McVeigh. The Last Night of the Proms will never seem the same again.” - The Yorkshire Post
“Wonderful!--even better than your first novel. And even more true!” - Vladimir Ashkenazy, Letter to Alice McVeigh
“Ever wondered what goes on in the backstage life of a symphony orchestra? This racy novel was written by someone who knows.” The Daily Mail
- GenresFiction
387 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1997
5 people are currently reading
1041 people want to read
About the author
Alice McVeigh
13 books122 followersAlice McVeigh has been twice-published by Orion/Hachette in contemporary fiction, by UK's Unbound (using a pen name) in Kirkus-starred action adventure and by Warleigh Hall Press in her multi-award-winning Austenesque series (honoured at the last two London Book Fairs, in the 2024 and 2025 UK Selfies awards, twice finalists in FOREWORD INDIES' "Book of the Year" (2022, 2024) etc.
Alice achieved a B.Mus with distinction in performance at Jacobs Indiana University School of Music, and spent three years studying cello privately with William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pre’s “cello daddy”. After that she freelanced with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique all over the UK, the EU, America and Asia.
In the 1990s, WHILE THE MUSIC LASTS and GHOST MUSIC were published by Orion/Hachette, to wonderful reviews. Both have since been revised, and are now available in new editions, from Smashwords as well as the author's website.
("Characters rise and fall to McVeigh's superbly controlled conductor's baton” – The Sunday Telegraph. “McVeigh succeeds in harmonising a supremely comic tone with much darker notes." - The Sunday Times.)
Her fifth Austenesque novel - MARIANNE - a new-release SENSE AND SENSBILITY SEQUEL - has so far received stellar reviews from FOREWORD INDIES, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY's BOOKLIFE, the US REVIEW OF BOOKS, SPR, the INDIEREADER, HISTORICAL FICTION COMPANY, etc. It has also won Gold in the Literary Global Book Awards (romance), the American Writing Awards (romance), and the the Coffee Pot Book Awards (literary).
The previous four have been BookLife Quarterfinalists, joint runners-up in Foreword Indies' "Book of the Year" and honoured in the final seven novels considered for the 2024 UK Selfies Book Awards at the London Book Fair.
Alice has long been married to Professor Simon McVeigh. The McVeighs have one daughter, currently working on a PhD-level Presidential Scholarship at Harvard in Chinese Literature.
When not writing or editing, Alice is likeliest to be smiting tennis balls at the Bromley Tennis Centre. (As her daughter remarked, when aged only four: "My mum hits the ball farther than anybody!")
Alice achieved a B.Mus with distinction in performance at Jacobs Indiana University School of Music, and spent three years studying cello privately with William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pre’s “cello daddy”. After that she freelanced with orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique all over the UK, the EU, America and Asia.
In the 1990s, WHILE THE MUSIC LASTS and GHOST MUSIC were published by Orion/Hachette, to wonderful reviews. Both have since been revised, and are now available in new editions, from Smashwords as well as the author's website.
("Characters rise and fall to McVeigh's superbly controlled conductor's baton” – The Sunday Telegraph. “McVeigh succeeds in harmonising a supremely comic tone with much darker notes." - The Sunday Times.)
Her fifth Austenesque novel - MARIANNE - a new-release SENSE AND SENSBILITY SEQUEL - has so far received stellar reviews from FOREWORD INDIES, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY's BOOKLIFE, the US REVIEW OF BOOKS, SPR, the INDIEREADER, HISTORICAL FICTION COMPANY, etc. It has also won Gold in the Literary Global Book Awards (romance), the American Writing Awards (romance), and the the Coffee Pot Book Awards (literary).
The previous four have been BookLife Quarterfinalists, joint runners-up in Foreword Indies' "Book of the Year" and honoured in the final seven novels considered for the 2024 UK Selfies Book Awards at the London Book Fair.
Alice has long been married to Professor Simon McVeigh. The McVeighs have one daughter, currently working on a PhD-level Presidential Scholarship at Harvard in Chinese Literature.
When not writing or editing, Alice is likeliest to be smiting tennis balls at the Bromley Tennis Centre. (As her daughter remarked, when aged only four: "My mum hits the ball farther than anybody!")
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 10, 2024
Ghost Music by Alice McVeigh is an exciting look into the lives of orchestra members and the dynamics at play amongst the pit and across the sections. While there are elements of suspense and interesting twists regarding the personal lives of the many characters followed in this novel, the devil is in the details. This ambitious work demands the reader to pay close and careful attention to the growing list of people, places, and perspectives, as it shifts quite frequently.
The novel shifts perspective amongst an exhaustive list of characters, telling the stories of their conflicts, emotional turmoil, and professional aspirations. McVeigh weaves varying perspectives to provide an intricate look at how each person's mental and emotional state can take a toll on others.
For fans of orchestras and the dynamics at play, this is truly a peek into the pit. There are many factors in play for each person, from the director to the orchestra manager to musicians in different sections, and everyone's personality traits are mapped out in great detail.
Leszek was meanwhile attaching the last movement. Now Leszek conducts Elgar with a purely Eastern European flavour. It isn't Elgar, exactly, but his conviction is such that it still overpowers while some voices emerge with exotic unexpectedness—the coaxing whine of the cor anglaise, the wise swell of the double basses…Then he exploded again. 'Geoffrey! Trumpets! You are deaf, crazy or only stupid? You are behind! Behind, behind, behind!' Geoff lifted bloodshot eyes from the principal trumpet part. Some people, I know, maintain that Geoff is nerve-free—instead, he simply prefers a near-constant stage of superficial inebriation to braving, unfortified, the tension involved in his job. He nodded, making a wry face towards his troops from behind the music stand. 'And why is this? Because you do not listen! You are behind even the horns, and that I would never have believed!'
The personalities of each character are brought forward in their trials and tribulations, and a mysterious cello bought at auction soon impacts the lives of the members of the Royal Sinfonia as it battles against the failing Orchestra of London. The community of musicians seems quite small and a bit incestuous, and the dynamics at play amongst the groups and each player are evident.
There are points at which McVeigh demonstrates how many of the musicians and artists are all a bit lost, searching for what they think they need in each other, while the visions prompted by the mysterious cello continue until the end.
The novel shifts perspective amongst an exhaustive list of characters, telling the stories of their conflicts, emotional turmoil, and professional aspirations. McVeigh weaves varying perspectives to provide an intricate look at how each person's mental and emotional state can take a toll on others.
For fans of orchestras and the dynamics at play, this is truly a peek into the pit. There are many factors in play for each person, from the director to the orchestra manager to musicians in different sections, and everyone's personality traits are mapped out in great detail.
Leszek was meanwhile attaching the last movement. Now Leszek conducts Elgar with a purely Eastern European flavour. It isn't Elgar, exactly, but his conviction is such that it still overpowers while some voices emerge with exotic unexpectedness—the coaxing whine of the cor anglaise, the wise swell of the double basses…Then he exploded again. 'Geoffrey! Trumpets! You are deaf, crazy or only stupid? You are behind! Behind, behind, behind!' Geoff lifted bloodshot eyes from the principal trumpet part. Some people, I know, maintain that Geoff is nerve-free—instead, he simply prefers a near-constant stage of superficial inebriation to braving, unfortified, the tension involved in his job. He nodded, making a wry face towards his troops from behind the music stand. 'And why is this? Because you do not listen! You are behind even the horns, and that I would never have believed!'
The personalities of each character are brought forward in their trials and tribulations, and a mysterious cello bought at auction soon impacts the lives of the members of the Royal Sinfonia as it battles against the failing Orchestra of London. The community of musicians seems quite small and a bit incestuous, and the dynamics at play amongst the groups and each player are evident.
There are points at which McVeigh demonstrates how many of the musicians and artists are all a bit lost, searching for what they think they need in each other, while the visions prompted by the mysterious cello continue until the end.
March 30, 2025
Ghost Music by Alice McVeigh was tale of the Orchestra of London and its many musicians and other staff, as well as other orchestras and their musical staff. The story centers around the cello section and a new/old cellist, William, who moves from one orchestra to the other due to personal circumstances which cause some gossip among the sections of the orchestra.
There are affairs and late nights which cause consternation and drama among the players and maestros. All of which happens wherever you work, but this drama seems to center on a cello purchased by William for use when the orchestra is on the road. The instrument seems to be inhabited by its own will and musical talents which affects William’s playing in a good way. It also exerts its will on other members of the orchestra is some strange ways.
Ghost Music uses many colloquialisms and cliches which make it hard at times to get the meaning of the passages and there is quite a lengthy list of characters to keep track of, which I found confusing. But, by the end of the story, the loose ends come together and it all makes sense except for, of course, the cello with a mind of its own, without which there would be no story.
Overall, Ghost Music is a story unlike any other. You will enjoy it, especially if you know Britishisms and like books about music.
Thanks to Netgalley for the prepublication copy to read and review.
There are affairs and late nights which cause consternation and drama among the players and maestros. All of which happens wherever you work, but this drama seems to center on a cello purchased by William for use when the orchestra is on the road. The instrument seems to be inhabited by its own will and musical talents which affects William’s playing in a good way. It also exerts its will on other members of the orchestra is some strange ways.
Ghost Music uses many colloquialisms and cliches which make it hard at times to get the meaning of the passages and there is quite a lengthy list of characters to keep track of, which I found confusing. But, by the end of the story, the loose ends come together and it all makes sense except for, of course, the cello with a mind of its own, without which there would be no story.
Overall, Ghost Music is a story unlike any other. You will enjoy it, especially if you know Britishisms and like books about music.
Thanks to Netgalley for the prepublication copy to read and review.
June 18, 2025
This book is entertaining for the right audience! I'm not the right audience- family strife makes me tense so I put the book down.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews