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Frozen Music

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As a tabloid journalist Esther Fisher is used to picking fights in the stories she covers. But when her hard-won professional integrity comes head to head with the heart's demands, she has to ask herself if she has picked a fight with no winners.

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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119 people want to read

About the author

Marika Cobbold

13 books37 followers
I was born in Gothenburg Sweden into a family of readers and writers. My father is a newspaper editor and columnist, as is my brother. My mother, who stayed at home looking after the family, furnished the walls of every room with shelves full of books. We were a family that read and discussed and whereas there were restrictions about what we were allowed to watch on TV, and comic books were discouraged, books were a different matter; basically, the rule was that my brother and I could read whatever we could reach. (It was a happy day when, standing on a chair, I got hold of Fanny Hill.)

Ours was a liberal and tolerant household but some sins, I had imprinted on me, were beyond the pale, book burning and censorship of the written word were two of them. Hanging on his wall at his office at the newspaper my father had a quote from Voltaire. Translated from French into Swedish and then by me, into English, it went something like this: 'I may well not agree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to state it.'

Growing up I was pretty well the standard embryo writer - you know the kind? Prone to daydreaming, constantly reading, feeling as if I were on the outside looking in, finding the world of books more relevant than the 'real' world I lived in.

Aged nineteen I married a British naval officer and moved to England. Before the move I had had just one year at university so, arriving here, I had no idea of what I was going to do with my life. But not for long as my son was born the following year and three years after that, my daughter. Life as a naval wife was a mix of periods of loneliness and periods of great fun and adventure. But as we settled in the Hampshire countryside, having decided that following the fleet was not so practical with two school age children, I began to think about writing. I had always been a great 'trier outer' of things, and it has to be said, also a great quitter, but almost the minute I sat down to write I felt as if I had come home. I had never kept a diary, not for longer than a week anyway (although I bought many, especially those which had a little tiny gold key) or written stories as a child- thought them up yes, but written them down no - but here I was, feeling as if I had walked straight through a doorway marked, Life's Work.

Of course, as the weeks and months became years I realised that it would be much more of a struggle to persuade the world (other than my family who were hugely supportive) that I was a writer than it had been convincing myself. But finally, when I was thirty-five, my novel Guppies For Tea, a story about growing old and fighting back, was accepted for publication. Several other publishers had turned it down saying no one was interested in reading about old people. Luckily, as it turns out, they were wrong. Even so, if it had not been for the help of my friend the writer Elizabeth Buchan, and that of Hilary Johnson of The New Writers' Scheme, whose interest in, and support of new writing went well beyond that which was purely romantic, I might never have been published. This taught me that luck and the goodwill and support of others is essential in the writing business as in so much else.

Oddly enough, instead of feeling the euphoria I had expected once my dream of being a published author had come true, I went into a kind of prolonged sulk. I spent many hours thinking up plans for how to minimise the humiliations I was sure would follow publication, including working out how many copies of my own book I could afford to buy up and stash away in the garage.

As it turned out, Guppies For Tea, was rather a lucky book. It was picked for the first W.H. Smith's Fresh Talent promotion, ensuring nationwide review coverage, massive distribution and the kind of support most new writers can only dream of. Following that the book was short-listed for The Sunday Express Book of the Year and after that it was serialised on Woman's Hour. As one a

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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Kim.
Author 23 books268 followers
April 13, 2014
I first read Frozen Music back in 2001 and fell in love with it. The story of Esther and Linus and how they go from being childhood friends to adults who cannot seem to navigate the path to love spoke to me, especially with the cultural differences--Esther is British and Linus is Swedish. In parts a comedy of errors, while also a beautifully written love story, Frozen Music is a near-perfect story of just how messy and unpredictable love and life can be.
584 reviews3 followers
July 5, 2014
very good, I am finding Swedish authors have a style I really enjoy. and now I know why my grandma liked her coffee and had cinnamon buns for dessert!
Profile Image for Kadri.
113 reviews
May 11, 2016
Selles raamatus oli mõnusalt palju ütlusi, mida välja kirjutada. Kuidagi kurb aga samas väga mõnus ja hea lugemine. Kosutav :)


"Tähtis pole mitte see, kus sa käid, vaid see, mida sa näed." (lk 190)
Profile Image for Erin.
26 reviews15 followers
March 5, 2019
There was a lot to like about the writing style, narrative, plotting, and characters in Frozen Music. It's probably worth another half-star, really, as it did have some really lovely moments in it.

The blurb on the front suggesting it was a Scandi Pride and Prejudice was a slight impetus in picking this book up - and having read it, I can only assume either that the reviewer read an entirely different book, or that they've never actually _read_ the Austen Pride and Prejudice. Definitely misleading, and I might've enjoyed the book more if I hadn't been waiting for some sort of class commentary to start.
Profile Image for Gergely.
Author 5 books8 followers
May 10, 2017
Except for the bit where Esther says, in all seriousness, that she was reading Socrates because she wanted sg philosophical. No editor should have let that one stand.
2,314 reviews22 followers
January 29, 2022
This novel published in 2000 is a romance, not my usual choice. But this is not a sticky sweet romantic novel, more an exploration of two complex characters with different goals and life experiences who meet, fall in love and find they must negotiate a giant hurdle to continue their relationship.

The first part of the book covers the childhoods of both Esther Fisher and Linus Stenduhl. They know about each other through the letters their mother's shared as best friends, but they have never met. Each has come from a family background with its own particular strains. Esther was a difficult child who was curious and questioned everything. When she was young, her father walked out of the house one day and never returned. Linus grew up in in Sweden. His biological mother died when he was seven and his father, an uncaring, cold man who bullied his son, remarried. Linus however was not unhappy and lived quietly in his own dream like world with the attention of his off-beat uncles and aunts who spoiled him and encouraged his dreams of becoming an architect.

Esther, although intelligent, takes life seriously and often feels lost by the world around her. She is an angry, lonely and emotional young woman who is prone to stress, but calms herself by viewing life through the strict lens of right and wrong. It is a model that helps her manage events, control her anxiety and navigate life. Much of the story takes place in Esther’s head as she wrestles with the uncertainties of life and longs for predictability, at times appearing poised on the edge of mental collapse.

Linus embarked on a successful career in architecture, married his first love and had a child, but the marriage did not work out. After the divorce he felt lonely but life is now more enjoyable with his girlfriend Pernilla.

Linus has always dreamed of the day he could design something special and an opportunity appears on the horizon when a wealthy English entrepreneur plans to build an opera house and commissions Linus for the job. The location of the proposed development is occupied by an elderly brother and his sister who ask for Esther’s help when they are threatened with eviction from their old family home. Esther is sympathetic to their cause and joins them to block the action of the investors. Always sensitive to social causes, she believes it is the right thing to do and leads the rallying cry of the public against the project. But when she meets Linus and begins to develop feelings for him, she is uncertain which way to turn.

Things go well when Esther and Linus first meet, but then with each on a different side of the issue, their relationship begins to deteriorate. Their different perspectives on life and the world around them become evident, with Linus less strident about issues and more likely to try to get along than Esther, who is always focused and determined to have her way.

Although Esther is in her early thirties, this is her first romantic relationship. She has always looked on romance with a certain amount of disdain, but when forces emerge that threaten her relationship with Linus, she hatches some amusing schemes to win him over.

There are a few sub plots involving a poisoning, an attempted murder and a secret adulterous affair, but the focus remains on the unusual, quirky romance of the two protagonists.

The description of Esther, a confused, cynical young woman who tries to create a predictable world for herself and Linus a man chasing his dream, makes this story more than a romance. It is a thought-provoking study of two people leading very different lives and the relationship they try to forge together. Readers know how it ends, as Esther is clear to announce that in the early pages.

This is an easy comfortable read with interesting characters and a plot with some drama, a few twists and some funny moments. It focuses more on the two personalities rather than the usual cloying aspects of romance novels with their unrealistic and predictable ends.


Profile Image for Raisa.
170 reviews
July 20, 2013
This book was my mother's recommendation- she said she really enjoyed it so I picked it up to see what the fuss was about.

Frozen Music centres around the lives of two people; Linus, a dreamy boy living in Sweden, and Esther, a serious young girl living in England. The two have known about each other their whole lives, because their mothers write to each other regularly. Eventually they meet, sparking off a chain of events neither of them could foresee.

I couldn't get past this feeling of growing deja-vu in the first few chapters. What did this remind me of? I wondered. I got it in a scene describing a grown up Esther watching a man dive off a high cliff into water.

Call me ridiculous, but I do believe Marika Cobbold loosely based her book off Ayn Rand's Fountainhead. For the first half of the book, I felt like I was reading a dumbed-down version of Rand's work. Cobbold also has two characters who are extremely active and extremely passive - the self-willed Esther who is determined at all costs to get her own way, and the compliant Linus, who seems to drift through life with no definite viewpoints on it one way or the other.

Even the professions are the same- Linus is an architect who loves his work with a fierce passion, while Esther is a journalist.

This feeling of deja-vu did spoil the reading experience for me, at least for the first part. Other than that, it flowed well enough and the author does have her own unique style. Frozen Music falls under the somewhat dubious category of 'intelligent chick lit'. I am not a fan of syrupy romance as a rule, and I don't like books where the ending is predictable- and with most chick lit, you know from the start that girl A and boy B will end up together.

If that is your kind of thing, then you might like this, as it is written a bit better than most and leaves you with a bit more to think about.

Having said that, for me once the deja-vu feeling passed the story did lapse into cheesiness in parts, especially the parts pertaining to love, with the character concerned getting all starry-eyed and gooey.

There is a little unpredictability in the middle that did make this book a little more interesting though, but in the end that alone wasn't enough for me to like it.

In fact, I was fully prepared to hate it and write an angry rant about Cobbold ripping off Rand but then the story moved far enough in another direction for me to concede that maybe the similarities were a coincidence. And even if it wasn't, that she had at least tried to do something a bit different with the story.

I have to say though that despite my irritation initially the book was easy to read and even well-written in parts, with some interesting language used (I love the quirky ways foreign language authors express themselves when they write in English). It's too bad that in the end it was cheesy and too chick lit- it could have been much more.

Profile Image for Lisa.
494 reviews32 followers
December 4, 2013
Frozen Music is the story of Linus and Esther. Linus is a solitary Swedish boy living in Gothenburg with his distant father and step-mother; a dreamy child with a buried sadness in his past Linus becomes an award winning architect, building beautiful but functional buildings and never quite getting to build his vision, his dream.
Esther meanwhile lives in a London with her parents, a cross, worrisome child, Esther questions everything much to the annoyance of her parents; her life is lived by a set of self imposed structure as she strives to find the answers to the questions that bother her. Becoming a journalist suits Esther's querying nature until her desire to do the right thing sends her into disarray.

The connection between Linus and Esther is their mother and stepmother who were old friends. At first the reader is given snippets of each of their lives as they grow up. Linus marries his first love, who turns out not to be much of a love and has a child. Esther, still questioning everything has not discovered true love but has become closer to her now divorced mother as they finally forge a relationship that works for them.
It is only when Linus's work crosses with Esther's work that they actually meet. Linus is about to achieve the pinnacle of his career, all his vision to come true in one building of his design but when Esther discovers it means an old couple losing their old family home, she has other plans.
When Esther's mother visits Sweden and her old friend Olivia, she has an accident which means Esther must go take care of her and again comes into contact with Linus and this time his family too. It is this enforced holiday on an island in Sweden with Linus and his eccentric family that Esther finally gets the answers to some of her questions but will it make her happy?

I loved this book. I loved Esther. She is one of the most self-depreciating heroines I've ever read. Faulty and quarrelsome but endearing, I loved the relationship with her mother and her quirky way of seeing things as a child. Linus too, a gentle man, bowed down by the force of his overbearing wife is a character that develops and endears. Both have something of the lost about them, both striving to find answers, confused by life and love.
There are some very funny bits in this book, the humour is wonderful and I loved the writing style. The story flowed and not once was I bored with any of the characters or the story..and the ending? Perfect.
Profile Image for Linda Burnham.
209 reviews6 followers
December 3, 2014
I spent about the first half of this book being frustrated and impatient at how long it was taking for the protagonist, Esther, to even meet Linus "the only man I've ever loved" yet alone walking out on him as she states in the prologue. I found her behaviour increasingly irritating as well. As I read on however I found myself becoming sympathetic to Esther's plight; she has a breakdown and completely loses confidence in her ability to make even the smallest decision after a couple of her actions (she perceives) lead to some disastrous consequences affecting others. Her story becomes a comment on the nature and consequence of news reportage and "truth telling" by the media. Eventually she does meet Linus and thereafter I could barely put the book down until I'd finished. I can't say why exactly, just that it was a great read.
A few years ago I read another of Marika Cobbold's books, Shooting Butterflies, and I enjoyed it a lot too. I feel fairly confident that I will read Frozen Music again.
Profile Image for Jools.
372 reviews2 followers
August 1, 2014
I picked this up because of the blurb on the front which claimed this was the Nordic version of Pride and Prejudice. Far from finding this to be the case, I found that the first third of the book seemed to be dedicated to a retrospective telling of how difficult the childhoods of two of the characters were, and how psychologically challenged their parents were.
I have to confess that I didn't finish the book - I became bored waiting for the actual plot to commence, and to be honest I have other books to spend my reading time on! I've read "Guppies for Tea" by this author which was much more fluid in its writing, but again, dealt with a character who had a difficult parent whose behaviour when they were a child had affected their adult life and their ability to form meaningful relationships.
I won't be reading this author again.
832 reviews16 followers
Read
November 4, 2011
Completed, but it took me longer than many books of a similar length......Perhaps if I was in a more upbeat/less tired place I could have gotten through this quicker.[return][return]Pleasant story where Linus and Esther grow up hearing about each other (their step/mothers are friends), they never actually meet until well into adult life where their respective jobs bring them into conflict. There are plenty of great characters, some great humour (one of the things that kept me reading to be honest) and a reasonable story
Profile Image for Elaine Cougler.
Author 11 books64 followers
August 11, 2016
Frozen Music by Marika Cobbold. Do you ever look at people you see and wonder what their stories might be? Esther and Linus, the love duet in this novel, are most unlikely lovers. Their stories, personal and unique, weave through those of many other people and places until we finally see them for themselves about half way through the book when they meet. From then on they are various shads of enemies until the last page. Quite an interesting story.
Profile Image for Maia.
233 reviews83 followers
September 6, 2011
Could never really get into the swing of this bookclub selection. I don't think I was ever convinced by the voice--it never sounded natural to me, rather as if translated from another language. The author is Swedish and I guess I'm not really sure why, other than fantastic exceptions like Lolita, any novel would be written in any but the author's true mother tongue.
Profile Image for Suzanne.
561 reviews3 followers
February 20, 2015
I enjoyed this unusual story of colorful, quirky characters Esther Fisher---a London reporter & Linus Stendahl----a Swedish architect. The inevitable 'love story' waiting for these two is complicated on several levels & their journey is 'haunting, heart-breaking, & funny'.
fav quote: "Architecture is 'Frozen Music".
Profile Image for Lou Nixon.
227 reviews1 follower
April 30, 2015
New favourite author? Maybe... It was like a really good holiday read with more depth. I like that it is a bit of an anti-romance, I adored Esther and Audrey! Reminded me of that Sue Townsend book where the main character stays in bed for a year. Cobbold really knows how to write people. Now off to buy everything else that she has ever written. Standard :)
Profile Image for Petra.
67 reviews
September 24, 2016
My least favourite of the three novels I've read by this author - the storyline is rather predictable, repetitive and long-winding, with an exaggeration of a twist at the end. And yet this author's charm and wit never fail to amuse me and her keen power of observation and insight always manages to hit close to home!
Profile Image for Doris.
229 reviews1 follower
July 27, 2014
Should have never finished this book. Did not like either of the main characters. This book is supposed to be a love story and the two people who fall in love don't even meet until more than halfway through the book. Found it unbelievable that they would fall in love with each other.
Profile Image for Chrissy.
56 reviews2 followers
January 26, 2016
Found myself completely absorbed by this book. I got the characters, I loved the friction and I enjoyed it all immensely. Perfect holiday reading for the grey rainy days we've been having! Thanks Linny and Trine, I'll definitely be reading more Marika Cobbald books.
Profile Image for Carey.
897 reviews42 followers
January 6, 2010
Well I managed to finish it - recommended as intelligent chick lit... isn't that an oxymoron, although at least someone died in it which is a change.
Profile Image for Sidonie Ferguson.
36 reviews
October 25, 2012
I really really like this book. The story does have its moments of strangeness but I really liked the writers style and the way it unfolded. would definately recommend.
Profile Image for Emma.
46 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2013
I found this a lovely read and hard to put down. There was enough humour in there to keep me amused and whilst I could guess at the ending, yhe journey was well worth it!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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