The Chimes

by Anna Smaill

WINNER OF THE 2016 WORLD FANTASY AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

MAN BOOKER PRIZE LONGLIST 2015

One to Watch Independent on Sunday

A Bookseller Best Debut of 2015

One to Watch 2015 Huffington Post

An Amazon Rising Star

'The Chimes is a remarkable debut. It's inventive, beautifully written, and completely absorbing. I highly recommend it.' Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

A mind-expanding literary debut composed of memory, music and imagination.

A boy stands on the roadside on his way to London, alone in the rain.

No memories, beyond what he can hold in his hands at any given moment.

No directions, as written words have long since been forbidden.

No parents - just a melody that tugs at him, a thread to follow. A song that says if he can just get to the capital, he may find some answers about what happened to them.

The world around Simon sings, each movement a pulse of rhythm, each object weaving its own melody, music ringing in every drop of air.

Welcome to the world of The Chimes. Here, life is orchestrated by a vast musical instrument that renders people unable to form new memories. The past is a mystery, each new day feels the same as the last, and before is blasphony.

But slowly, inexplicably, Simon is beginning to remember. He emerges from sleep each morning with a pricking feeling, and sense there is something he urgently has to do. In the city Simon meets Lucien, who has a gift for hearing, some secrets of his own, and a theory about the danger lurking in Simon's past.

A stunning debut composed of memory, music, love and freedom, The Chimes pulls you into a world that will captivate, enthral and inspire.

• ISBN10: 1444794523
• ISBN13: 9781444794526
• Publish Date: 12 February 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 May 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Sceptre
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

Interesting concept but I'm not sure that the story worked, at least it didn't for me. I think it would have worked better as a different world it felt a bit strained and shoehorned in. The story involves a world where a musical instrument destroys memories every day, it also kills birds and this is the story of some young people who fight for a different world.
 
I wanted to like it, the musical references were very interesting and pulled me in but I really didn't care about the characters and their situations.

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 0 stars

Leaving the book unrated isn't quite the same as giving it the lowest possible rating, which is 1 star here on Goodreads. Alas, I'm hard pressed to even give that one star. See, to do that, there would have to be something I recognised as deserving merit. Trouble is, I'm none the wiser after finishing the book than before. I read some pretty words but try as I might, no meaning formed in my mind. The beginning was so disjointed that it rendered any subsequent coherence moot.

Linguistically, musical terms were integrated into the text, e.g subito, lento, solfege. These were mostly derived from Italian. For those with music background, that shouldn't be a problem but for those who don't, they'll have to look up the terms because there's no glossary.

Pity the novel didn't come together. The snippets of lyrics to the various songs were beautiful. Someone told me the author is actually a poet. That might be why. Other than that, the only thing I loved about the book is the cover but that technically has nothing to do with the novel per se since that one's on the talent of the designer.