Crescendo
A gripping love triangle in glamorous 1950s Paris
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Crescendo
Narrated by:
Celeste Dring, Joe Jameson
Buy Now for £4.24
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Narrated by:
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Celeste Dring
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Joe Jameson
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By:
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Jane Healey
A piano virtuoso and his twin sister become rivals for a new spotlight—the adoration of a mysterious French patron—during the hot Parisian summer of 1957.
“An enthralling literary symphony of ambition, desire, and obsession.” —Layne Fargo, bestselling author of The Favorites and They Never Learn
Twins Natasha and Max Kitson have lived their lives on the road, together building Max's career as a world-renowned pianist, famous for bringing even the most stalwart audience members to tears. But when, at age 20, the former prodigy begins making uncharacteristic mistakes, he abruptly cancels his remaining concerts and moves himself and his sister into the home of an enigmatic French patron, never realizing that Henri has been his sister's lover.
In Paris, over the course of one summer, Natasha's long-simmering resentments and Max's deep insecurities drive the siblings apart as each vie for Henri's attentions. But neither twin can have their host entirely to themselves, because while, during the day, Henri woos Natasha with lavish gifts and trips to the ballet, it's Max's music that draws Henri from bed each night.
One part delicious family drama, and one part twisted love triangle, Crescendo is an altogether un-put-downable escape to the concert halls, ballet theaters, and bedrooms of 1950s France. ©2026 Jane Healey (P)2026 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews
A bittersweet tale of a love triangle in 1950s Paris . . . Those who enjoy a romance with a caustic edge will take to this searing work.
Healey depicts the decadence of late 1950s Paris in cinematic prose . . . Recommend to fans of evocative, atmospheric historical fiction like Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep.
Crescendo is the psychologically gripping story of two siblings, the music that moves them, and the love they so desperately seek. The writing is sexy and layered - I fell under Healey’s spell from the very first chapter until its moving and bittersweet end.
Crescendo is a riveting study in pressure—artistic, romantic, and familial—set within the rarefied world of 1950s French concert halls and ballet. Jane Healey renders ambition and rivalry with remarkable psychological acuity, illuminating the quiet compromises and irreversible choices that shape a life devoted to genius.
An enthralling literary symphony of ambition, desire, and obsession, Jane Healey’s Crescendo captures the creative and destructive power of art with prose so immersive you’ll feel like you’re watching an Oscar-worthy film play in your head.
This stylish, passionate novel transports you to the gilded salons and concert halls of 1950s Paris, with two gorgeous twins, a count, and a dancer who make each big moves and mistakes for love. But the book's greatest question revolves around genius—how to grow it, to keep it, to not lose everything for its sake—and every page in Crescendo builds to its haunting and resounding answer.
A heady and intoxicating tale of rivalry and obsession, talent and envy, desire and destruction - Crescendo set me ablaze.
An enormous pleasure to read – a thrilling, claustrophobic, passionate study of ambition, neurosis and desire that really sucked me in.
I couldn’t tear myself away from this captivating, heady novel that draws a taut string between the needs of the flesh and the demands of art. The literary love triangle between Max, Natasha and Henri joins the exalted ranks of The Great Gatsby and Brideshead Revisited.
Phenomenal and compulsive, a simmering tale of sibling rivalry and the heady world of classical music. It is really a love story, a love of music, a love of siblings, a love of life. The prose was tender, sexy even and most importantly precise: as accomplished as a virtuoso pianist playing a sonata. I found the ending unexpected and bruising. Terrific.
Crescendo is the perfect title for this book, not only because it revolves around a brilliant pianist, but because the story builds, slowly, grippingly, leaving you breathless with every new revelation, heart beating in your ears until the explosive ending. Then, on the final page, it offers a beautiful note of hope. Healey is an artist.
A delicious unravelling of complicated siblings in the most sumptuous of settings, I devoured it.
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