I absolutely loved this book maybe it's my musical background that drew me in or maybe it's Harris’s unique and elegant prose.
A heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting tale about second chance, the power of true friendship, and learning from your mistakes.
I didn’t want this to end. I can highly recommend it to everybody.

I think the comparison to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine sucked me in and was a bit of an unfair comparison, leading me to be letdown. I just could not get into this novel.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A charming and comforting story with great characters and simple but effective story line. Grace is a character with a complicated background and the novel essentially guides you through all the problems of her past in order for her to move forward with her life. Well written and just a bit of fun. Comforting and cosy.

Grace once had the beginnings of a talented musician, but can no longer play her cello publicly after a traumatic incident at music college. Now she builds string instruments, while having a long distance affair with David, the man who has helped to rebuild her life. After David saves the life of a young girl in Paris, his sudden fame brings to light the real state of his relationships. Heartbroken, Grace abandons everything, including her competition winning cello. Soon blossoms unlikely friendships that help her to discover there is more to life than love.

Utterly amazing!!! I can see why this has rocketed in popularity. It is so beautifully written that it will leave you in tears, both happy and sad, as it explores the reality of relationships and heartbreak. I was almost in tears for the whole last third - happy and sad tears of course - because it all just happened so beautifully. When she finds out the truth of what happened at college, when her friends push her to do something she couldn’t imagine doing. I just want to tell you about it all because I loved it so much. So you should read it and then come talk to me about it please.

This is an unforgettable book about love, romance, heartbreak and friendship. Most of all, it is about resilience. Although it is extremely miserable at times, the luminous writing and carefully constructed story will keep you reading from the dramatic start to the end. The settings are also beautifully described - I am sure that Cremona can look forward to more visitors!

The leading character Grace has a successful life as a 'cello and violin maker with her own shop and she also enjoys her romance with the seemingly wonderful David but the problem is that David is married with children and waiting for the right time to leave his wife. Grace doesn't feel very guilty - David's wife knows that he has a girlfriend - but she is growing tired of waiting and travelling between England and France is also a strain at times. Although lonely, Grace is friendly with a troubled teenager who works for her and a dapper, elderly customer.

Haunted by the death of her parents and having to forsake her musical career, when Grace faces a crisis, she can't deal with it...

I loved this almost perfect book and I am looking forward to more books by Anstey Harris. Her website is also great, and provides a list of music that is important to the story.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

This novel was honest and raw. There were some moments where I felt that this was written from experience. I really enjoyed this as it allowed me to escape and live in another's life.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster ( Australia ) and the author, Anstey Harris, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book provided a good read. It was beautifully written with well drawn characters. Very thought provoking. 3.5 stars.
Worth a read.

This is a delightful story of friendship, taking control, and appreciating what you have.
Grace is in her late thirties and has had a boyfriend who lives overseas, in Paris, for the last eight years. She plans of a life with him, and children, and living together, but this is yet to materialise. This part of the story had me not really liking Grace so much and actually just being really frustrated with her continuing doormat behaviour. But once we get about a third through the book, the story takes a side-step and some people who were peripheral in her life become quite good friends. And it really was these friendships that had me enjoying the book.
It is at times a little predictable, and we all love a HEA, so if you are after an easy read that is at its core just about people then I would recommend getting a copy of this.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hmm...an interesting one. I honestly didn't care for any of the characters. I understood exactly was the novel's intent was, but it just never quite hit the mark for me. I did, however, adore the attention paid to the instruments. The author is obviously well-researched, or experienced, in string instruments, and it really shows. The descriptive language for music and instruments was beautiful. I just wish this same depth could've been paid to the storyline and character development.

I will admit from the beginning, I found this to be a good book, don't get me wrong, but I definitely don't believe I'm within the correct audience for this book. I am a lover of music and I know a fair amount about the topic, yes, however, this book did have a lot of technical language from the musical aspect and especially in terms of cellos and violins, and also making of the instruments. I think because of this, I did struggle to connect to the characters on a deeper level, more than just the superficial level that I did connect with them.

I had read that this book was similar to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Now I would have to disagree majorly with this, as the similarity between the two books would be very minimal for me.

Apart from the lack of connecting to the characters, I also found that although there were crises after crises throughout the book, all of them were resolved and turned out in a positive manner, and nothing was left unresolved. All of these issues were resolved too well and neatly, which did seem unrealistic for me personally.

I did find the plot and story line to track in a good speed. There was never a dip in speed for me, and I always felt like something was happening, from drugs, affairs, relationship issues, pregnancies, and broken instruments.

Character wise, Nadia and Mr Williams are my favourite characters by far. I loved the fact that Nadia wasn't a prim and proper musician, and that she seemed more realistic teenage character with problems with her family and friends. Mr Williams was the character that in every scene he was in, he always brought wiseness and happiness. Although I didn't like Grace, the friendship between the three of them was absolutely wonderful. I wasn't a big fan of Grace and David, especially their relationship from the beginning. I never enjoyed David's presence in the book in any scene. Grace somewhat grew on me near the end, especially with the little character development, in relation to David, that I actually enjoyed and cared about.

Thank you very much to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Grace Atherton leads a quiet and lonely life in a small English town where she owns a music shop. She used to play the cello but stopped after she was thrown out of music school. Since then she hasn’t played the cello but has dedicated her life to making and repairing string instruments.
For eight years, she’s been in a long-distance relationship with a married man who won’t leave his wife until their children grow up, so Grace keeps herself busy making the perfect cello to enter the Cremona Triennale Competition in Italy. When a shocking event turns her life upside down, risking everything she has worked for, Grace realises that she is not as alone as she thought. She can count on her friendship with Nadia, her young shop assistant, and Mr. Williams, her wise elder customer.
This novel is completely engrossing with realistic, likable, and engaging characters, an emotional, mesmerising, and inspiring plot, and an atmospheric setting that takes the reader from England to Paris to Cremona in Italy. Perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, this is a brilliant novel about friendship, heartbreak and music, which will stay with you for a while after you finished reading it. (NP)

Grace Atherton has a violin shop and a workshop where she makes and repairs violins and cellos. When Grace is alone, she plays beautiful music on her cello, but is afraid of playing for an audience.
Nadia also loves music and playing her violin. Nadia helps Grace in the violin shop and in her spare time she is writing a symphony.
Grace is restoring a precious violin for Mr Williams. Mr Williams is elderly and lonely and likes to spend time with Grace talking about music and his life.
Three lonely people brought together by their love of music. This was a feel good story about families and relationships.

On finishing The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton I dearly wanted to stand up and shout, ‘Bravo! Bra-vooo!’, clap wildly and whistle as though I were at an orchestral concert.

But I would have woken up everyone in my house. So I settled for a mental fist pump instead.

Grace Atherton inhabits the edges of life, convinced she is living a full life, but she is not. She has an eight year relationship with a married man who lives in a different country. He promises he’ll leave his wife once his children are old enough. He even has the backstory of a sad and neglected childhood to explain why he won’t leave now.

It’s easy to understand Grace’s attraction to David. He is everything she is not:

"He is, in one of my few French phrases, totally bien dans sa peau: happy in his skin."

Then again, Grace lives her life in perpetual fear, so living at the edges has probably suits her.

Grace justifies her relationship to herself because she knows David and his wife “have an agreement of silence, a contract of behaviour that puts their children first.” And yet, they are both lying to their children. What of that?

The near death of a pregnant woman on a Paris train track sets in motion a chain of events which will blow Grace out of the stasis in which she finds herself. Slowly – nudged along by old Mr Williams and her Saturday teenage shop girl, Nadia – Grace learns to prioritise her present life over a vague future vision.

This includes trying to overcome her decades-long fear of playing ‘cello in front of an audience. Though she sells, makes and restores ‘cellos in her small-town shop, and plays for hours each day in the privacy of her own apartment, Grace hasn’t even played in front of David – the person she trusted most in the world.

Her performance anxiety stems from the trauma she suffered on being thrown out of a prestigious music college twenty or so years ago:

"Nikolai Dernov was the last person I played in front of. He would wholly approve of my terror at playing for an audience, any audience. In my darkest dreams on the loneliest of nights, I still hear the rasp of him clearing his throat in disgust."

Grace has tried everything, including therapy, but nothing has worked. However, the simplistic world view of a teenager may be just what she needs:

"‘So what? You’re fucking awesome. Play anyway.’ Nadia is away with the idea. She is too young to understand that life doesn’t always let you have what you want."

I’ve had my own share of enthusiastic choir masters and musical directors scream threats at myself and fellow musicians to cancel shows if we didn’t perfect our notes. It’s pretty much par for the course in performance art, as far as I can tell. But never anything like the ritual humiliation Dernov put Grace through.

It made me wonder – why do people do that? Why is it not enough to make beautiful art? Why must we crush the confidence of those who are less than perfect to the extent that they stop making art altogether? And yet, it is true in a way that incredible art is often born through suffering. Also – to be fair – we did always improve after a good high-volume pre-concert ‘pep talk’.

There is plenty of story in The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton but my favourite parts were when the narrative would suspend to make way for the music. At those times it felt like the story was simply a vehicle for the true purpose of the novel – the music.

The literary descriptions of the making of ‘cellos, writing music and performing it, were simply magical. Elsewhere, the turns of phrase themselves are so lyrical:

"I accept the fact slowly, in drips that mottle all of our previous conversations like mould."

All the characters (even David the adulterer, annoyingly) are very relatable and likeable. But I have to give a special shout out to Mr Williams, whom I absolutely adored. An eighty-something-year-old monied gentleman, he is a regular client of Grace’s as well as a great support to her. He tells her:

"‘You have to grasp life by the balls, Grace,’ he says, ‘and don’t bloody let go until you have to.’"

Freaking amen to that.

This novel could be summed up as when life gives you a broken string instrument, make your own extraordinary cello.

The shy and somewhat recluse Grace Atherton is a luthier, who loves to make and repair string instruments. She herself is an accomplished cello player, not that anyone close to her has heard her play. Not even her lover of eight years, the charming David, who happens to have a wife and kids in Paris. Grace is always ready to drop whatever she's doing to meet with David whenever and wherever he's available. The crumbs he's offering are delicious. He was in many ways almost perfect - good-looking, generous, knew her very well and made her feel special. Due to a brave act by David, their lives turn upside down. Grace is devasted to find out all sort of unsavoury things about David.

Luckily, she's got two unlikely friends to help her through her heartbreak: an eighty-something gentleman, who comes by her shop for coffee and a chat and her spirited, angst-ridden teenage assistant, who's becoming a very good violin player.

While the story itself has been done before, what made it special, for me anyway, were all the details about playing music, instrument making, Cremona and its string instrument awards.

‘The cello is one of the few instruments with the vocal range of a human.’

What a wonderful new release to start the year with!

‘The themes of art, of classical music, fly through my mind. Man against man. Man against nature. Man against himself. For each theme, I see a piece of my life fly away; I am flayed by the loss of my career, my children, my future.’

This novel sings with its gorgeous prose. Grace is a character I instantly warmed to. When we meet Grace she is in her late 30s, in love with a married man and living year to year on a shoestring promise that ‘their time will come when the children are grown’. She is an accomplished cellist and luthier, who owns her own shop repairing (and making) violins, violas and cellos. Grace’s extraordinary talent as a cellist was brought to a halt after only one year at the conservatory of music on account of an appalling abuse of power on the part of her quartet teacher. The impact this has on Grace’s life is profound, and more than twenty years later, she cannot play in front of anyone, only losing herself in her music when she is alone at home. I felt that Grace was leading only half a life, both professionally and personally. When her quiet existence is turned on its head, she is not at all equipped to deal with the upheaval, her reactions consequently making things worse for herself, compounding her inability to put together the broken pieces of her life. It’s sad, what happens to Grace, so much repressed pain brimming to the surface in one swift blow.

‘It dawns on me, like daybreak, that there are no winners in love affairs, however well meaning.’

This novel is built upon the foundations of music and the way this translates onto the page is sublime. I loved the imagery conjured up from the descriptions of Grace’s work as a luthier, particularly the sections pertaining to the baby cello she was creating, such a breathtakingly beautiful concept. There was so much love infused into the narrative, so much appreciation for the instruments themselves. It was almost as though each cello, each violin, and each viola was a living, breathing creation, endlessly growing and developing over time. It was just beautiful. And then there were the scenes where Grace would play her cello. It was almost as though you could hear the music lifting off the pages. The trio of Mr Williams, Nadia and Grace playing together was sublime, especially that scene in Italy when they inspired an impromptu street strings orchestra. It’s such a rare talent, to write about music in a way that lifts it from the page. Anstey Harris has this talent in spades.

‘All this wood is yet to stretch and wake. Each one of these instruments will improve over the years to come and, the thought dwarfs me, some of them will be being played hundreds of years from now. I feel part of something amazing.’

The Truths And Triumphs of Grace Atherton is a novel about losing yourself in order to find yourself. It’s about friendships in unlikely places with people who share your passions instead of your demographics. It’s about thwarted dreams and new beginnings. I really loved this novel, it’s filled with a beauty and depth that caught me completely by surprise. Highly recommended.


Thanks is extended to Simon and Schuster Australia via NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton for review.

What a beautiful, elegantly written story this is. It has been an utter delight to read and one I shall very much look forward to rereading in the future. While Grace is very much the star of this show she has an able support cast in her teenage shop assistant Nadia and elderly customer Mr Williams.
I was utterly absorbed in Grace’s journey from a brilliant but painfully private musician and instrument maker. Revealing her final triumphs would spoil this story for others but I cheered like mad at her success both in terms of her career and in terms of her personal development.
Entwined in Grace’s journey is her relationship with David, her long-standing part time lover. As with all relationships this one has its ups and downs, some of them monumental, and all of this contributes to Grace’s story as well.
I would like to say I rushed through this story but I didn’t. I savoured the early part in small, delicious bites though by about three quarters of the way through I simply had to know what would happen at the end. I’m happy to say that when I finally got there I was not disappointed.

The context of the book is extremely interesting and appealed to me as a musician. I was wary at first as other books I’ve read with musical aspects have not been that accurate, but this was absolutely spot on. It was fascinating to read about the process of a luthier making a stringed instrument and made for a fresh take on the music industry which is not found in other books.

I thought that the characters were greatly varied - personality and age wise - and accurately represented the many personalities found in music colleges. The experience of the main character, Grace, in music college is something that I can slightly relate to. Though in my tertiary studies I decided to do composition, my experience as a flautist in the years leading to that, was intense and cut-throat, even as a teenager and with teachers much less daunting. I appreciate the fact that Anstey showed the true nature of the rougher and somewhat romanticised part of becoming a professional musician.

Though I thought that some of the characters were quite plain at the beginning of the novel and I questioned their choices, the more I got to know about them, their circumstances, and eventually their growth, they became more vivid and their initial personalities made sense to those reasons. Overall, I did really enjoy this book and I thoroughly appreciated an accurate novel about musicians.

A wonderful, uplifting tale about finding friendship in the most unexpected of places. Grace is a violin maker that has her own shop in rural England and is in a long distance relationship with David, who lives in France. She has dreams of winning a prize in a prestigious violin making competition, but after a fateful night in Paris with David, her dreams come crashing down in the aftermath. With her soul at rock bottom, her friends rally around her, a lonely old man and an angst-ridden teen become Grace's unlikely allies, as she tries to rebuild her life and make it to Italy in time for the competition.
I was enchanted by this book, the characters are all too real, and I learned a lot about the making of stringed instruments, something that wasn't even on my radar before. But don't get me wrong, this book isn't overloaded with technical detail, it's a very interesting part, as is the competition in Italy itself, where makers of stringed instruments from around the world get together. This novel is full of charm and will delight even the most jaded reader. Recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very readable but ultimately it fell a little flat for me. I started off from behind as my ARC didnt show the cello illustration very well, so the different parts which were referenced continuously throughout the book flew over my head. The first chapter was very slow but thankfully it got better quickly from there. I did feel like some of the subplots were unnecessary, and her reaction to David's revelation by smashing up her shop could have been dealt with differently with similar impact. The ending was altogether too well wrapped up, i feel like some subtlety would have worked better.

Delightful! I was hooked from the beginning; the characters are vividly painted, the relationships well-rounded and real. I was very moved by the main character's evolution. Just wonderful! I found this story profound, poetic, uplifting and life-affirming.