Solo by Caroline Swinburne

Solo

 by Caroline Swinburne

Solo by Caroline Swinburne

 was published on 28th September 2025 by The Book Guild.

My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to 

Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the Tour.

Synopsis

Cate was a top musician in a leading orchestra—until a disastrous solo humiliated her on the world stage. Traumatised, she abandons her instrument, retrains as a language teacher, reinvents herself online, and travels the world. Ten years later, after her mother’s death, Cate returns to her bleak Midlands hometown, where she’s drawn into mentoring Sarah, a talented teenage horn player with no professional training. Sarah dreams of making music her career, but her family can’t afford a decent instrument or lessons. She learns by ear, her talent undeniable but her future uncertain. Cate is the only one who can help. When a local amateur orchestra announces a concert featuring the piece that once destroyed Cate’s career, Sarah’s big break is at stake. For Cate, helping her succeed could mean redemption—if she can finally face her own past.

My Thoughts 

I loved this book just as soon as I saw the title and the cover page. I was also drawn in by the fact that this isn’t your usual love story of “girl meets boy” but more “girl meets horn”. 

Pardon the pun , but this is definitely a novel idea that is so refreshing to read. However, from my perspective as a musician, this also had me reliving memories from my musical past when a solo didn’t quite reach the limits I wanted it to, so in many respects I could relate to Cate and what she went through, and why she couldn’t go back. Personally I have a hot flush every time I hear the Saxophone solo in China in Your Hand by T’Pau, enough said. It also shows the harsh reality of how you have to be ruthless in some areas of your life if you want to succeed and be the best at what you do and will also make you wonder if it is worth it.

Caroline writes in a flowing style that just has you turning page after page , losing a sense of time , until you find you have reached the end and the clock shows that it is the early hours of the morning. Whether you are a musician or not , is irrelevant to enjoying the book, as there will be some aspect of Cate’s life that you will find to relate to , or apply to what you may have been through over the years. 

What ever your background I feel sure that you will enjoy this book as much as I did and like me will now be waiting for the next novel from Caroline.

About Caroline

Caroline Swinburne is piano teacher and qualified music therapist who previously worked for the BBC. Originally a French horn player, she became obsessed with the piano and now runs a successful teaching practice in south-east London, as well as writing music-themed fiction. www.carolineswinburne.com Caroline explains: “As a teenager, music was my life and my world revolved around lessons, practice, youth orchestra rehearsals and concerts. I studied for two music degrees, then joined the BBC with ambitions to work in music radio. But I got side-tracked by speech feature-making and abandoned music to work as a reporter and producer specialising in stories about the developing world. Fast-forward to my forties, when motherhood was making globe-trotting unsustainable, and – somewhat to my amazement – my older son was showing a keen interest in music. The time had come for a career change; I initially retrained as a music therapist and came to see that my relationship with music, and with the horn, was complex, and at times dysfunctional, but essential for my well-being. Cate rose far higher than me, and fell far lower – but like her, I spent decades ignoring a vital part of being and pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Thankfully, I came to my senses before it was too late. Reflecting on all this was the motivation for the book.”