Trumpet - Jackie Kay

Ostensibly recounting the life and death of Joss Moody, famous jazz musician, Trumpet also explores themes of love, loyalty and family. Beginning in the days immediately following Joss's funeral, the story is told through various different voices, each offering their own tantalizing glimpses into the world of this enigmatic central character: trumpeter, husband, foster-father, subject of a tell-all biography - and once a woman called Josephine. Kay's writing is sympathetic yet unsentimental, and she draws the reader into Joss's story even while he waits in the wings, never quite known, except through the words of others.

'The book's style works like a jazz riff, a literary improvisation of the central melody of Joss's death' Independent on Sunday