A little night music: Another Jojo Moyes gem

British author, Jojo Moyes, has an extensive catalogue of contemporary novels and historical fiction. Moyes was a journalist with The Independent for 10 years and has been writing novels since 2001. I've reviewed three of Moyes's historical novels in one post, and another, The giver of stars, in a separate post. You can also check out my review of Someone else's shoes, Moyes's contemporary novel that started my journey through her works. It's one of my favourite books of all time about women supporting women. Night music is one of Moyes's early contemporary novels. Read on for my review.

Night music | Published January 2008 | Read June 2025

Night music owes its title to the protagonist, Isabel Delancy, a talented violinist who inherits a crumbling house in a close-knit village in the English countryside after the unexpected death of her husband. Isabel uproots her children - Kitty and Thierry - from their posh London life and transplants them into the derelict home, far away from their support network. Isabel is saddled with a house that is barely habitable, financial troubles, and a son who has withdrawn into himself after the death of his father.

The book is written around the "fish out of water" premise, with Isabel clearly thrust into a world that is completely foreign to her. She is ill-equipped to manage the house repairs, her dwindling finances, and her children's and her own grief.

Isabel is forced to deal with Matt McCarthy, a local builder and neighbour, who believes he and his wife, Laura, have a claim on the dilapidated house. Laura helped look after its former elderly occupant for many years (mostly for the purpose of inheriting the house, as they expected to do, I might add). Matt is incensed that Isabel has taken what he believes is his. He sets out from the get-go to overcharge the unsuspecting Isabel, sabotage the building works he is tasked with completing, and make changes to the house that align with his long-term plans to own it.

As the novel progressed, I became increasingly irritated by Isabel and could muster up very little sympathy for her. Isabel seemed to have no common sense and was overwritten as a woman incapable of doing anything practical. Kitty, Isabel's teenage daughter, was the real hero of the story. She stepped up and took over where her mother was lacking. Matt was written as something of a caricature villain and I thought his obsessive bad behaviour was a littlie over the top. There was more nastiness to him than just the building work sabotage and, without spoiling, he didn't get the ending I was hoping he would.

Night music is one of Moyes's first novels and I can see how she has grown as a writer over time, having read some of her more recent works. Is this novel flawed? Absolutely. I still enjoyed the village setting, the peripheral characters, and the growth that Isabel, Kitty and Thierry experience as they adapt to their new surroundings. I do understand Moyes's portrayal of Isabel - a creative person absorbed in her music without the time or the skills to deal with the real world - but her naivete was just as maddening as Matt's sense of entitlement. What saves the story is the a cast of characters who flesh out the narrative and give the reader something to focus on besides the two main players.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐