8 – a novel about the immortal (2019)

What if the mysterious and long lost Symphony No. 8 by Jean Sibelius suddenly surfaced? Well, it has.

 

There is music that gets under your skin, gripping minds and emotions. There is also music with an ability to get much, much deeper. This is the story about the mysterious Symphony No. 8: music never heard arising from the pages. But it all begins with a simple burglary. ”8” is novel about obsession, hatred and vanity – and the love of music, immortal music.

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Tony Lundman’s exhilarating debut novel ”8” was originally published in Swedish in 2019 and described as ”a page-turner”, with comparisons ranging from Umberto Eco’s ”Name of the Rose” and Dan Brown’s ”The Da Vinci Code” to Kjell Westö’s ”Mirage 38”.

 

It is a novel centred around music; the mysterious and long-lost Symphony No. 8 by Jean Sibelius. The eighth symphony has been debated time and again since the composer’s passing in 1957. A final, great orchestra piece by the Finnish master. The music was indeed composed and finished in the 1930s, leading researchers affirm, but it was never shown to the world. Instead, Sibelius is said to have tossed the score into the fireplace at his home, experiencing an enormous self-doubt. 

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But what if…?

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We know of the seven symphonies by Sibelius, meanwhile the lost eighth has remained an enigma and fuelled controversies. But what if this unknown yet immortal music would materialize? And what if it bursts into the present with overwhelming power?

 

Taking off with previously unknown events in connection with the Winter War in Finland 1939–40, the reader is brought to present time where a highly private war is taking place in the classical music business. The young Swedish Finnish conductor Evy Rosbacka is terrorised by her former manager Ken Parsons, founder of a leading, London based artist management. Life gets further complicated when traces of the Symphony No. 8 by Sibelius reach Evy Rosbacka. It could be a blessing – or too heavy a burden for a human being.

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Over the years the Sibelius score has secretly passed through the hands of several: in Finland, in the Soviet Union and later on in Italy under very different circumstances. The music seems to have a will of its own, and Rosbacka fights not to succumb to its spell. At the same time Ken Parsons is making moves to destroy her. 

 

”...  a page-turner that revolves around self-consuming creativity and the Finnish

National composer’s Eighth Symphony.”

Johanna Paulsson, Opus Magasin

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"He lets the mythical eight serve as a hub in a novel that is not only about music and its power but also about obsession, hatred and love. This is spiced with interiors from the classical music industry's publishers and artists. All in all, Lundman has in this way created a different novel that is well worth reading. ”
Staffan Sundkvist, Capriccio.se