Under the Visible Life

“Jazz is blood, bone and spirit in Kim Echlin’s wonderful novel. Under the Visible Life is as heady and unexpected as a Coltrane riff, as lush as life itself.” —Esi Edugyan, author of Half-Blood Blues
  
“Engrossing . . . the novel carries readers through an impressive cavalcade of personal and societal changes. Echlin is that rare writer who can evoke the joy of playing and listening to music without resorting to overly abstract language or fussy metaphors.” —Toronto Star
 
“Echlin’s musical novel hits the right notes . . . Echlin is a wonderful storyteller, and has created two strong characters who have to battle far too many obstacles trying to live fulfilling lives.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“Her prose is always arresting: plain and vigorous, laconic and sensual, a language of resistance, dreaming of female freedom.” —The Independent
 
“Echlin . . . delivers a clinic on how to conjure emotions readers didn’t even know they had. Not since The Diviners has a Canadian novel explored the complex, messy, and sacrificial nature of creative self-actualization with such skill . . . Readers will revel in every charged scene, every breathtaking reversal, every hard-earned moment of wisdom that this devastating novel delivers . . . This book is nothing short of a masterpiece.” —Quill & Quire (starred review)
 
“[Echlin’s] talent is on full display in this lyrical, exciting story . . . Echlin’s excellent novel introduces two complex women who sometimes succeed and sometimes suffer, and whose stories are moving from start to finish.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
 “The sweaty clubs are vividly evoked, the music almost rising off the page. Rather than a study of stardom, the novel turns a spotlight on the jobbing players, the ranks of professional musicians who gamely keep on swinging but who never get the big breaks. It’s all the more effective – and poignant – for that.” —The Guardian