The Music — James Hamilton-Paterson

This brilliant sequence of short stories, first published in 1995, sees James Hamilton-Patterson serving up fables and fictions on creativity, tradition and loss, all of them linked by the love of music and underpinned by a musical theme. An escaped lunatic who thinks he is Schumann interrupts a quiet family picnic; a Croat refugee gifted at the guitar enters and unsettles a woman's life; and a Chinese master-teacher struggles with a pupil who would dare to modify a musical canon. 'Written in a wide range of voices... (these tales) reveal an imagination as wide-ranging as it is dazzling. Astonishingly versatile... extremely funny.' Christina Patterson, Independent 'Beautiful, eerie, witty, astute, dazzling.' Observer 'As perfect a collection of short stories as you're ever likely to come across.' Paul Sussman, Independent on Sunday