Learn more about the ten novels and the songs they inspired...
Veronika Decides to Die is a novel by Paulo Coelho published in
1998.. It tells the story of 24-year-old Slovenian Veronika, who appears
to have everything in life going for her, yet
she is not happy; something is lacking in her life, and one morning she
decides to die. The overdose of sleeping pills she takes does not work,
and she wakes up in Villete, the local asylum. There she is told that
her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live. The
story follows Veronika through these intense days as she starts to
question all her ideas about life. Soon she comes to realize that every
second of existence is a choice we all make between living and dying.
Against all odds she finds herself falling in love and even wanting to
live again…
One More Dance is Veronika's
story.
The God of Small Things (1997) is the debut novel of Indian
writer
Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of
fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay
down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book describes
how the small things in life can affect people's behaviour
and their lives.
Little Things argues that it's the small quirks a
person has that makes another fall in love with them.
The Master & Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, written
between 1928 and 1940 but unpublished in book form until 1967. It is
woven around a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet
Union and is considered by many critics to be one of the best Soviet
satires ever written. This complex novel, heavily influenced by Goethe's
Faust, inspired the song Devilish Disguise.
Beloved is a novel by the American writer Toni Morrison published in
1987. Set after the American Civil War (1861–1865), and based on a true
story, the main character, Sethe, kills her daughter when a posse
arrives in Ohio to return them to the Kentucky plantation from which
Sethe and her children have recently escaped. She kills her daughter
rather than allow her to be recaptured. A ghost who is believed to be
the murdered daughter comes back to haunt the family home. The song
inspired by Beloved is called
Ghosts.
The Time Traveler's Wife is the debut novel of American author Audrey
Niffenegger, published in 2003. It is a love story about a man with a
genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about
his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his frequent absences and
dangerous experiences. They first meet on one of his time travels when
she is 6 but it's not until she is 20 and he is 28 that she meets him
"naturally". In their last meeting, she is 82 and he is 43.
All He'll
Ever Need is a love song.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber is a 2002 novel set
in Victorian-era England. The novel details lives of two very opposite
Victorian women, Agnes and Sugar. Sugar - an intelligent and
resourceful prostitute - is the mistress of Agnes's husband and lives in
their household after he employs her in the guise of a governess for
his young daughter.
No-One Can Tell highlights the plight of the
mistress who may seem to have the best of both worlds but could easily
end up with nothing.
White Teeth is a 2000 novel by the British author Zadie Smith. The
story mixes pathos and humour while illustrating the dilemmas of
immigrants and their offspring as they are confronted by a new,
different society. However, no matter the colour of their skin, the
religion they follow, or the country they come from, everyone has at least one
unifying feature - white teeth.
Beautiful Smile is about falling in
love with someone from a different culture.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a high fantasy novel for
children by C. S. Lewis, published in 1950. Most of the novel is set in
Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures that the White
Witch has ruled for 100 years of deep winter. Four English children
discover this magical land via a wardrobe in the big, old country house
they stay in during their World War II evacuation from London.
Magic
& Mystery is a song about the magic and mysteries of everyday life.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a 1985 novel by German writer
Patrick Süskind that explores identity, communication and the morality
of the human spirit. The story focuses on Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a
perfume apprentice in 18th-century France who, born with no body scent
himself, begins to stalk and murder virgins in search of the "perfect
scent". Jean-Baptiste's story is told in
Heaven Scent.
The Color Purple is a 1982 novel by American author Alice Walker. Celie is the main
character and has been oppressed by men her whole life. At 14 she is
forced to marry a much older widower to look after his house and children. They all treat her very badly but everything changes when she falls in
love with her husband's mistress.
Forbidden Fruit celebrates going against the grain to
discover your true identity.
