“Ghost Music” by Alice McVeigh

Ghost Music

Alice McVeigh
Warleigh Hall Press (2024)
ISBN: 978-1916882386
Reviewed by Joan Kirschner for Reader Views (07/2026)

What mystical or supernatural forces beyond our understanding may exist in the universe? Do we accept that they may be present? Those are just two of the questions that readers of Ghost Music by Alice McVeigh will ponder.

At the center of this intricate novel is the handsome, 50ish cellist William Mellor, who recently joined the Royal Sinfonia, a London orchestra, and the vintage cello he purchases from an auction house. The salesperson can tell him only that it is of Italian origin, dating to perhaps around 1800, and that the specifics of its provenance are unknown. Despite that, he feels himself strangely drawn to it. William plans to use his new cello on the orchestra’s many tours to preserve his primary instrument.

There is something unusual about the cello. In addition to it having an extraordinarily full, rich sound, it is varnished in a deep tone that seems to literally glow with a jewel-like quality, or so William thinks he sees, though he isn’t quite sure.

William leads a troubled and complex life – separated from Margot, his wife of twenty-five years, he is grieving a broken love affair with Isabel, a younger woman with whom he played in a competing orchestra, and is missing Piotr, his closest friend with whom he has had a falling out. He is hurting, vulnerable, and self-doubting.

At the same time as William acquires the cello, Janice, a bewitchingly beautiful woman, tries out for another role in the Sinfonia. There is something about Janice that immediately seems to mesmerize the men around her, particularly the tempestuous and temperamental conductor, Leszek.

Other individuals, mainly members of the Sinfonia, but also those associated with the rival orchestra, swirl around those key characters, conveying the political and social complexity of a fiercely competitive creative profession, in a precarious world where governmental funding or the lack of it keeps everyone on edge, and can result in instant unemployment.

Overall, much of the story is narrated by Pete Hegal, the orchestra’s manager, through excerpts from his diaries, though there are intervening chapters that are direct interactions between the various characters and explore their motivations and emotions.

The tale of the cello and its strange, enigmatic powers winds through Ghost Music, surfacing, then moving to the background, and reemerging once again, until it is, at least for William and the other principal characters, resolved. Or depending on the reader’s penchant for such things, perhaps not.

Alice McVeigh conveys an insider’s knowledge of the world of professional musicians, which, per her biography, she acquired as a cellist playing in leading London orchestras. Her background lends an authenticity to Ghost Music that she communicates throughout the novel. Readers in other fields or professions will gain a new understanding of what goes on behind the scenes for an orchestra’s tryouts, practices, performances, and tours, and how competitive a hierarchy it is. Perhaps because the superior, most desirable opportunities for positions (or chairs, as they are known in the musical world) are quite limited, the musicians who seek to occupy them are not just competitive but also work in a mostly closed world with its own plentiful gossip and speculation. In Ghost Music, that also leads to intimate liaisons and the closest of friendships, which in this insular culture are both fragile and precarious while being constantly scrutinized by their peers and others.

Each chapter is preceded by an epigraph, each one a well-chosen quote from the works of Shakespeare. This clever device effectively frames the musical world of Ghost Music with literary flourishes that hint at the developments that will follow. It also shows the breadth of the author’s research. I particularly enjoyed these Shakespearean references, which reminded me of my college studies. Concerning the ambiguity of the role of the cello, it is for each reader to contemplate, determine, “or what you will,” per Shakespeare.

Though some of the characters are eccentric, and a couple can feel disturbing, William is generally revered by the others and is a solid presence, despite his relationship difficulties. As readers, we can feel sympathy for him as he copes with Margot, Isabel, and, of course, the cello, as we come to understand his world.

It should be noted that this is a novel for adult readers, as there are some graphic sexual interludes, and psychological issues involving strong emotions are explored.

Having previously read another of the author’s novels, from her series on characters from the works of Jane Austen, it was fascinating to see how thoroughly she used her personal experience to create a very different time and setting for Ghost Music.