#BookshelfSpotlight-‘The Industry Of Human Happiness’ by James Hall

About the book..

Something a little different for today’s #TuesdayTunesday !

Set in the murky backstage world of late-Victorian theatreland, The Industry of Human Happiness is about the obsessive characters who dreamed of bringing recorded music to the masses.

Max and his younger cousin Rusty have a vision of launching the gramophone industry from a Covent Garden basement. But a renowned opera singer is brutally murdered in his hotel bed and they are thrust into the underworld of opium dens, brothels and extortion.

Ghosts from the past and a contested inheritance turn the cousins against each other, and they go head-to-head to launch rival ‘talking machines’. With Max’s sweetheart, the ambitious singer Delilah Green, caught in the middle, the pair battle rival manufacturers, London theatre owners and, ultimately, each other, for their very futures.

This is a story of obsession, the pursuit of love and the enduring magic of music.

‘The Industry Of Human Happiness’ is published in paperback format by Eye Books, and is also available via ebook on Kindle Unlimited

*Until 31st August all books at the Eye website have 30% off with code RACHELREADIT as well as free p+p!*

‘

Music,Max thought.The joyous din of people letting go.The calling card of cultures.The universal language. What else was there beyond music and love?Drudgery and disease,reality and regret.’

Max and his cousin Rusty Cadenza are in the ‘the industry of human happiness’, co-founders of the ‘The London Gramophone Corporation’, innovators and staunch defenders of the gramophone as the cutting edge of music. Famous in literally dozens of homes, Max has this brilliant masterlist of musical types that he wants to record and make available to the masses, fervently believing that being unable to attend a music hall or music theatre should not deprive an individual of their access to music.

His girlfriend, Delilah, who has struggled long and hard to be seen as a singer has her doubts, these include the threat that should this form of music take off, then people might not want to come and listen to her sing. Having arranged a coup in persuading Italian opera singer,Balducci, to come and record classic opera before he leaves for his homeland, Max is outraged when he first recieves a note, then a visit in person from rival Barnabus Franklin. Franklin’s theatres are where Balducci had been playing so this is seen as a very backhanded thing for Max and Rusty to do.

On going to visit Alfredo Balducci in his hotel , after almost finishing his recordings, Max finds the opera singer murdered in a horrific fashion, and with tell tale clues leading to the London Gramophone Company.

As wedges are driven between Max and Rusty, this becomes so much more than a ‘whodunnit’ wrapped in a historical novel, this becomes a ‘whydunnit.’ Poised on  the edge of manufacturing music available to anyone with a gramophone, the cousins find themselves standing against rivals,and even society itself. Considering that Victorian times saw such a huge leap in the crossover between technology and ways of life-in Max’s lifetime the telephone, the lightbulb and the ‘blot-free fountain pen’ have all made an appearance that has bettered human life, but for some reason, the public at large were not taking to his ‘talking machine’.

His frustration is palpable, why others are not seeing his invention as evolutionary escapes Max, as he races to discover who tried to sabotage the last recording of Balducci, when no one believes his musical amibitions. Was it Franklin, or was it a third party seeking to pit both businessmen against each other? Or is it new assistant ,Langley, or someone even closer to home?

Weaving past and present to discover how Max and Rusty became so estranged from their families, how Max turned his passion from playing music to capturing it, and how he became responsible for his cousin, Rusty, is a wonderful experience. It is rich, redolant in the small details which brings the passion of Max and Rusty to life , whilst getting you to think about your own mode of music retrieval and enjoyment.

I , for example, grew up with a father who had an enormous record collection and took great pride in looking after them. One of my favourites was the seminal Bill Withers-Live At Carnegie Hall, and when I left home, I began to build my own music collection on the new fangled compact discs. The cleaness of the restored recording was, to my dismay, too crisp and as I listened, my mind inserted the cracks and pops of  the well loved vinyl, and as my own 12 year old daughter begins collecting her own,second hand vinyl (9 albums , a handful of 7” and counting!) this novel really had me reflecting on the circuitous nature of how we listen to music.And how vinyl is making a comeback!

This intriguing and enthralling historical novel skillfully blances the need to solve a crime whilst really exploring the culture and times of Victorian London. The musical theatre is painstakingly detailed, and not once does James Hall drop the ball in juggling the representation of the Cadenza family, the evolution of recorded music and historical accuracy. ‘The Industry Of Human Happiness’ is at once a historical novel and crime thriller with richly drawn characters and a wry sense of humour . Throughly recommended to lovers of historical fiction such as  Ambrose Parry , Mick Finlay and Christopher Priest.

About the author..

James Hall is a music journalist and author. ‘The Industry of Human Happiness‘ is his first novel. The book is historical fiction with a crime twist. Set in the murky theatres and music halls of late Victorian London, the novel celebrates the magic of music and the indomitable spirit of the early recording pioneers.

James has written for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Observer, the FT and The Sunday Telegraph. As one of the music writers and critics for the Telegraph, he has reviewed shows by everyone from Beyoncé to U2 and from Kanye West to Paul McCartney

Links-https://jamesfhall.com/

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/oldest-recordings/

Twitter @jamesfhall

@EyeAndLightning