> Skip to content
[]
  • Published: 4 June 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529969245
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 232
Categories:

Crescendo

  • Jane Healey



A taut, sultry novel about rivalry, obsession and how far we are willing to go to get what we truly desire, set against the glittering backdrop of 1950s Paris

It’s the summer of 1957 and Max, a piano prodigy, is on a sold-out concert tour.


His beautiful twin sister, Natasha, serves as his manager and minder. But despite Natasha’s careful planning, he begins, for the first time in his career, to make mistakes on stage. Upending his schedule to seek a cure in Paris, Max sets up the pair in the sprawling mansion of a handsome and wealthy count. But Henri is more than just a patron of the arts; he has also been – unknown to Max – Natasha’s lover.

Freed from the familiar dynamic of manager and talent, Natasha’s simmering resentment and Max’s deep insecurity turn into a rivalry, as the two vie for Henri’s attention. While Henri woos Natasha in galleries and cafés during the day, it is Max’s playing that draws him from bed each night.

As the twins compete, the fractures in their already vulnerable relationship start to show, with devastating consequences for both.

  • Published: 4 June 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529969245
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 232
Categories:

Praise for Crescendo

This stylish, passionate novel transports you to the gilded salons and concert halls of 1950s Paris, with two gorgeous twins, a count, and a dancer who each make big moves and mistakes for love. But the book's greatest question revolves around genius - how to grow it, to keep it, to not lose everything for its sake - and every page in Crescendo builds to its haunting and resounding answer

Maria Hummel, author of STILL LIVES

I couldn’t tear myself away from this captivating, heady novel that draws a taut string between the needs of the flesh and the demands of art. The literary love triangle between Max, Natasha and Henri joins the exalted ranks of The Great Gatsby and Brideshead Revisited

Erin Kelly, author of THE SKELETON KEY

An enthralling literary symphony of ambition, desire, and obsession, Jane Healey’s Crescendo captures the creative and destructive power of art with prose so immersive you’ll feel like you’re watching an Oscar-worthy film play in your head

Layne Fargo, author of THE FAVOURITES

Phenomenal and compulsive, a simmering tale of sibling rivalry and the heady world of classical music. It is really a love story, a love of music, a love of siblings, a love of life. The prose was tender, sexy even and most importantly precise: as accomplished as a virtuoso pianist playing a sonata. I found the ending unexpected and bruising. Terrific

Molly Aitken, author of BRIGHT I BURN

A delicious unravelling of complicated siblings in the most sumptuous of settings, I devoured it

Anna Bailey, author of OUR LAST WILD DAYS