Classical Music

Delia, 58, has built a glamorous life in interior decorating in New York. Her sister Beatrice, 55, runs a restaurant in New Zealand, has a grown son and has spent years looking after their elderly parents. The two have never been close. When Bea rings to say their father has died, Delia reluctantly travels home for the funeral, and the sisters have a chance to draw nearer, though old hurts and resentments keep getting in the way. Chapters told by Delia and by Bea alternate with chapters headed "1953", which go back to a year when the sisters were girls: their mother's love of music, their father, a man the whole family loved, and events that shaped both women's lives.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

New Zealand, United States

First published

1999

Author's age

63 when first published

ISBN

9780140288384 (Penguin Books, New Zealand)