This book is based upon three inter-linked convictions: firstly, that the history of the novel reveals a deep fascination with the role of music in the formation and expression of human identity; secondly, that this connection has been routinely overlooked or misunderstood by generations of literary critics indisposed towards the serious consideration of music; and thirdly, that the last fifteen years have witnessed a resurgence of the 'music-novel' in Britain without any coherent response from the field of literary criticism. Music and Contemporary British Fiction addresses these issues by providing in Part One a theoretical overview of the relationship between music and the novel, as well as a survey of various key texts from the canon, including work by Austen, Eliot and Hardy. In Part Two, attention shifts to the contemporary period, with close analyses of the role and representation of music in work by writers such as Nick Hornby, Jackie Kay and Salman Rushdie.