Why a Booktrail?
2000s: If music be the food of life, play on…..
The Bellweather Revivals
What you need to know before your trail
Bright, bookish Oscar Lowe has escaped the life in which he was raised and has now made a new life for himself amid the colleges and spires of Cambridge. Working as a care assistant at a nursing home, his life is quiet yet satisfying. He does his job with pride and enjoys making the lives of those in his care more comfortable. There’s one difficult resident however – Dr. Paulsen but Oscar manages to slowly win him over
Life changes dramatically for Oscar Lowe when one day walking amongst the spires of cambridge, he hears some organ music. He follows the hypnotic sound – an event which will change his life in ways he could never have guessed.
Up until this point, he’s been working in a care home with the cranky residents although he is the only one whose managed to make friends with their most unsociable resident – Dr. Paulsen
At Cambridge, he meets Iris Bellweather and her brother Eden. Eden holds a belief he can heal people with music and when he hears where Oscar works, he has an idea…
And so the concerto of horror and despair strikes its first notes…..
Travel Guide
Cambridge
This novel takes place in amongst the spires and nook and crannies of Cambridge. The academic halls are a magnificent place to be with such history behind them and inside them. But at night, these gothic halls and spires can take on a rather dark undertone and students crammed into study rooms all day can want to break free.
Music and the musical departments of the university come to the fore. Eden Bellwether is a huge fan of Johann Mattheson who believes and has written books on the emotional power of music. He has researched his life in Germany and his entire belief system is born from his personality and findings from this book. Eden doesn’t believe in the strict rules of cambridge and instead wants to live life by his own rules and standards.
There are a lot of places you should and can visit in order to feel the musical influence and heritage of the Bellweather revivals:
King’s College Chapel
Where Oscar first hears the captivating organ music
Jesus Green
The meeting place of choice for the students and what better than to sit on this lawn, read this book and listen to some organ music?
A walk around the Colleges
The author has said that he wanted to capture the two worlds of Cambridge – the outer and the inner faces of the colleges. You get a real sense of the grandeur and respect of the place, of the history and standards contained within its walls. And the immaculate lawns:
“The clipped lawns seemed unusually blue with the indolent glow of flood lamps” As Oscar walks beside Kings chapel he doesn’t look up for fear that it will make him feel small and insignificant. This is the world he wanders into because of the lovely enchanting music flowing from its doors. A world where music can change a man…
This Cambridge and indeed the real one is a very special one where music, man and history come together into an crescendo of an ending..
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Bellwether Revivals
Destination: Cambridge Author/Guide: Benjamin Wood Departure Time: 2000s
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