Trumpet
Louis, a romantic swan, is in love with the angelic Serena, but he can't tell her how he feels; he has no voice. When he meets eleven-year-old Sam Beaver, a human friend, he goes to school with him to learn how to read and write. Louis' father also helps out; he steals a brass trumpet for his son. In the end, Louis learns to play, wins Serena's heart, and repays the music shop owner for his stolen trumpet. Here is a wonderful story of romance, friendship, and determination among animals and humans.
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When the celebrated Scottish jazz trumpeter Joss Moody dies, the funeral director discovers that Joss was born Josephine Moore.
Jackie Kay's Trumpet won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998 and the Authors' Club First Novel Award. It is widely studied in courses on gender, race, and identity.
It was inspired by the life of American jazz musician Billy Tipton, whose transgender identity was revealed publicly after his death in 1989. The novel is fictionalized and set in Scotland.
It uses multiple narrators and shifting perspectives, which can take a chapter or two to settle into. The prose is lyrical rather than dense.
Trumpet was written by E. B. White, published in 1970 by Galaxy.
Trumpet is 210 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Trumpet takes most readers 3 to 5 hours to finish.
Trumpet is a standalone novel by E. B. White, not part of a series.
Trumpet is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
