It turned out that my music had never left me. It had been stolen, yes, but not stolen away. I had simply never been free to play it . . .

When Arthur Champion, a gifted young music scholar, is sent away to war, he experiences the horrors of the Somme trenches. Surviving the slaughter, he begins to forge a new life for himself, discovering the profound, subversive power of his own musical voice.

His extraordinary odyssey takes him from playing in the jazz clubs of Paris to performing for Woodrow Wilson in the White House, and back again, his only constant companions his humour, his abiding love for music, and the racism of the age. This is a profoundly moving novel about trauma, survival, and the weaponization of art.

Serious Music is the outstanding story of a young Black man’s struggle to find his place in a world that resents his very existence. It is sure to cement Percival Everett’s reputation as one of America’s greatest writers.

‘An American master at the peak of his powers’ – Financial Times