Music Against The Night by Yiyun Li: A dense and complex novel worth taking time over
“Sweeping” is overused to describe historical fiction, yet by the time you finish Music Against the Night, the word won’t seem expansive enough. Opening in Smolensk, Russa, in February 1837 and February 1860, the novel takes in Pondicherry at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th centuries, in addition to Paris, Bath, London, Cazaubon (and more). Yiyun Li begins with John Field’s death, which “would never be natural – few musicians would have that luxury”. His wife, Adelaide, is not with him, because she was banished from his life decades earlier. From that sturdy opening, Li slips back in time to Dublin in July 1782, as Robert and Grace Field welcome their second-born son, John, “who would become their first child”. The previous summer, another John had died at two days old. From a young age, the music in John’s blood is obvious to them all, for…