> Skip to content
Play sample
  • Published: 7 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241977415
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $28.00

Gone

A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung




The spellbinding, deeply moving story of a child prodigy and the loss of her soulmate

'All my life my Stradivarius had been waiting for me, as I had been waiting for her . . .'

The thing you live for: Gone.

At twenty-one, violinist prodigy Min Kym found the one - a 1696 Stradivarius. At last she had found her true voice. Together they toured the world, playing to rapt audiences.

But in 2010 Min's violin was stolen at a train station - and suddenly her world collapsed. Unable to play, with little hope of ever finding the instrument that was now an extension of herself, she could see no future.

Yet Min knew that the music was still inside her - if only she could rediscover what she had lost, she might just find herself . . .

  • Published: 7 May 2018
  • ISBN: 9780241977415
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $28.00

Praise for Gone

Intense, elegiac and completely mesmerizing ... a beautifully pitched memoir which hits many different registers

The Bookseller (Book of the Month)

Riveting . . . her story of bereavement and resilience, and the determination to pursue one's art no matter what obstacles stand in one's way, is as enchanting as Kym's recording of a Brahms concerto

Glamour

A remarkable and original memoir . . . thrilling

Barbara Ellen, Observer

A remarkable story of love and loss . . . Also a gripping thriller that contains a hint of scandal, as well as money, villains and a secret

Helen Davies, Sunday Times

Fascinating . . . a tragic musical love affair . . . told in admirably lucid and uncluttered prose

Adam Sweeting, The Arts Desk

Riveting . . . her story of bereavement and resilience, and the determination to pursue one's art no matter what obstacles stand in one's way, is as enchanting as Kym's recording of a Brahms concerto

Harper's Bazaar

A movingly uncertain memoir of obsession, love and loss . . . Kym has an easy, elegant way of describing music

Financial Times

Deeply moving

Sarah Foot, Daily Mail

This book makes for a devastating but ultimately redemptive read. It is much more than a story about a lost violin: it is about who we are, how we love, how we grieve

Clemency Burton-Hill, Mail on Sunday

Gone is an extraordinary memoir of violinist and child prodigy Min Kym as she grows to understand her gift

Good Housekeeping

I loved Gone. It will stay with me for a long time

Cerys Matthews

A story to pluck at your heartstrings

The Times

Swiftly, skilfully drawn

Spectator

The memoir is both intensely raw- Kym's agony is at times so vivid it is hard to read on- and beautifully crafted

The Lady

An incredibly moving story

Radio 3 In Tune