Listen with Father - by Caroline Sanderson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Listen with Father is a book about the transformative power of listening, and about how we remember those we have loved and lost.

At four years old, Caroline Sanderson fell in love with the music of Mozart after listening to it with her father. At eight, she fell even harder for the songs of David Bowie. Her dad made many gentle attempts to persuade her to back to his world of classical music, but it wasn't until after he died that she returned to it, in memory of him. Listen with Father tells of how she set out to listen, with great care and attention, to the music her dad loved, to work out why he so appreciated it and whether she could too.

In a beguiling blend of memoir and biography, Sanderson explores the music of composers from Igor Stravinsky to Clara Schumann and Frédéric Chopin, hearing Mozart recitals in Salzburg, visiting Sibelius's house near Helsinki and playing Robert Schumann at home on the piano. Beautifully touching and absorbing, Listen with Father is a story of a beloved father, told through the classical music he cherished.

Review Quotes

"Tender, informative, and deliciously readable, here is a love song to classical music, and the man who taught his daughter how to listen." -- Rachel Joyce, author of The Music Shop

"Such a personal and heartfelt memoir of grief, warm and insightful in its exploration of how music mediates memory and carries the power to heal." -- Polly Morland, author of A Fortunate Woman

"This deeply affecting quest of rediscovery and remembrance blazes with love . . . It is inscribed and underscored with glowing intelligence and warmth, but more than that, it is a generous, gentle and open-hearted book. I was grateful for the journey and know I will travel its path again." -- Keggie Carew, author of Dadland

"Through the lens of classical music and a father-daughter relationship, this captivating and eloquent book investigates families, grief, missed opportunities and how the spirit of one generation is carried forward into the next." -- Alice Jolly, author of Dead Babies and Seaside Towns

"Listen with Father harmonises memoir and musical discovery into a generously open-hearted journey. It's a tender meditation on listening - to music, to memory and to the conversations we wish we'd had. Sanderson's tender storytelling shows how music can be a bridge to understanding someone, even after they're gone." -- Freya Bromley, author of The Tidal Year

"I loved Listen With Father. The perfect gift for anyone interested in the arts, literature, and music, classical or otherwise. Like the best classical music, it ignites our imagination, and is a deeply human adventure in music's power to affect our emotional lives. A book to return to again and again." -- Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father

"For anyone intimidated by classical music, the easy, powerful writing of Listen With Father will make you laugh and cry - and listen." -- Jane Bailey, author of Stay

About the Author

Caroline Sanderson began her career as a bookseller, and later worked in publishing before becoming a freelance writer and books journalist. She compiles monthly non-fiction previews for The Bookseller magazine where she is Associate Editor. She is also programme director of Stroud Book Festival and a Royal Literary Fund Writing For Life Fellow, supporting writing skills within the NHS. In 2024 she was appointed Honorary President of the Society of Indexers. The author of six non-fiction books, Sanderson is married with two twenty-something children, and lives in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds in a house with too few bookshelves. Music was her first love, and will quite possibly be her last.