I fell in love with music listening to Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley and the Beatles in car rides with my dad. He introduced me to classic rock and "real" music, the beauty of an excellent guitar solo, and rhythms you can't help but dance to. Music has always been my go-to in times of joy, of sadness, of stress, and of pure bliss. I connect songs to people, places, events and times of my life, and I think anyone that enjoys music has a good idea of what their life's soundtrack would include. A couple years ago I was gifted a record player and I fell in love with collecting records. This love for music and appreciation for listening to music on vinyl made it so easy for me to connect with Frank, Rachel Joyce's main character and the owner of The Music Shop.
Frank is a record shopkeeper in London, England in 1988 when vinyl records are starting to become obsolete and CDs are radical new technology. He grew up with a single mother that taught him everything through the notes and lyrics of music on vinyl, and he refuses to ever sell anything else. His shop is on Unity Street, properly named for the unity Frank and the other shopkeepers feel in not selling out to the development companies that threaten to take over their little community. Enter Ilse Brauchmann, an engaged German woman recently relocated to London that faints outside of Frank's shop. When she wakens in Frank's arms on the sidewalk, both Frank and Ilse are love struck.
Frank is well known for his ability to recommend just the record someone might need simply from spending a couple minutes listening to their story. Ilse is drawn to Frank and his connection with music, and he begins giving her lessons on the musicians and what to listen to in specific tracks. Their relationship grows through their kind and somewhat awkward interactions as Frank is hesitant to open up to the possibility of love.
Simultaneously, Unity Street is under siege by Fort Development. The shopkeepers are being pressured to sell out, but Frank and his friends refuse to give in to the corporate takeover of their small but connected community. Ilse helps Frank around his shop in his last effort to save vinyl from becoming outdated and his store from going under. Kit, Frank's charming and clumsy assistant, notices that Ilse never removes her gloves for any reason. What is she hiding? Why did she really leave Germany, and where is her fiance none of them have met?
This was a quick and easy read perfect for February. The Music Shop is a charming love story in a small London community in the 1980's, the ideal set-up for a Nora Ephron movie. I would recommend this story to any music lover that can relate to how music can move your soul in a way nothing else can.
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