Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.
But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.
When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night … coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.
An exquisitely moving novel about surviving devastating trauma, about the unbreakable bond between sisters, Nothing Else is also a story of courage and love, and the power of music to transcend – and change – everything.
I'm so delighted to be hosting the blog tour for Nothing Else today. Many thanks to Louise Beech, Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel.
I can't think of any authors who tug at my heartstrings as reliably as Louise Beech but in Nothing Else, she doesn't so much tug on them as play a haunting symphony of love, loss and hope. Heather is a piano teacher but when a little girl sparks a memory so painful, she has to walk out, she makes two momentous decisions. One is to apply for a job playing piano on a cruise ship, the other is to send off for her childhood care records.
From the very start of Nothing Else, it is made clear that Heather and her younger sister, Harriet witnessed terrible domestic abuse when they were children. As the older sibling, Heather tried to protect Harriet, first by reading stories and later through the music they play together on their piano. This is a story of past and present, and although love exists throughout, there are also some scenes which are particularly distressing; while Louise Beech never overplays the violence, neither does she tone down the lasting impact of witnessing these assaults. The adult Heather is understandably still affected by the losses she suffered as a child and is consequently a cautious, sensitive woman whose affinity for music lends her strength and brings succour. However, it is also music that most emphasises the hole in her life – especially the song that plays constantly in her head but is missing the person she needs for it to be played as it was first composed.
Nothing Else is the title of the song as well as the book; as Heather entertains guests aboard the Queen of the Seas, it's a perpetual refrain, reminding her of the sister she hasn't seen for thirty-seven years. The immersive scenes on the cruise ship authentically capture the sense of place and it's notable that embarking on this trip away from Hull should also signal her metaphorical voyage into her past. As she reads the redacted reports in her record, she begins to recall more and her memories are achingly bittersweet; from the shared joy of learning to play the piano to the fear of triggering more brutal attacks, and then the confusion and longing following the sudden separation of the sisters. The Portuguese word, 'saudade' meaning the sad state of intense longing for someone or something that is absent, is mentioned and it's heartbreakingly accurate throughout the book.
Most of the book follows Heather's perspective – the aptly subtitled 'Primo' chapters – but there are also the Secondo sections which are written from Harriet's point of view too. Her sense of loss and guilt almost mirrors her older sister's and I thought the exploration of the enduring bonds between siblings was beautifully expressed. Early on in both sisters' storylines, it's noticeable that perhaps neither has been particularly proactive when it most matters. Despite Heather's desperate wish to be reunited with her sister, she hasn't taken any steps to look for her until recently, Meanwhile, Harriet has recent worries of her own and although her fears are entirely reasonable, she has to be pushed into taking action. It does become evident, however, why they are like this. As children they had very little control over their lives; for many years their father's moods dictated much of their day-to-day existence and then later, while they were in care, choices were made on their behalf without their input or knowledge. It's sobering to consider how many real-life Heathers and Harriets were similarly affected by the decisions which were made for them, perhaps with the best intentions but without addressing the long-term consequences. There are moving revelations regarding the circumstances of Harriet's absence from Heather's life, some more expected than others but what I really loved is that it examines a different sort of love to the romantic sort, recognising that familial bonds are at least as important and lasting.
There's a Nothing Else playlist at the start of the book which is as genre fluid as its author; from A-ha to Vivaldi, Chopin to Simon and Garfunkel, John Barry to Bach, music isn't just the backdrop to the story, it's the heart and soul of it. During the course of this compelling novel, we are consistently reminded of music's power to soothe and console, to stimulate memories as well as make them, to bring people together and allow them to escape from reality for at least a while. Louise Beech's beautifully lyrical prose, with its empathetic understanding and exploration of light and darkness, elicits the same effect. Nothing Else is a profoundly captivating paean to music, courage, hope and most of all, love. I thought it was wonderful and highly recommend it.
Nothing Else is published by Orenda Books, it is available now in ebook and will be out in paperback on 23rd June 2022. Purchase directly from the Orenda website, from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo or from your favourite independent bookshop.
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Reader’s Choice in 2015. The sequel, The Mountain in My Shoe, was shortlisted for the Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle. The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her 2019 novel Call Me Star Girl won Best Magazine’s Book of the Year, and was followed by a ghost-story cum psychological thriller set in a theatre, I Am Dust. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull – the UK’s 2017 City of Culture – and loves her job as Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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