Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Yiyun Li turns to music in a new novel after losing her sons
Writer Yiyun Li lost both her teenage sons to suicide, six years apart: Vincent died in 2017 and James in 2024.
Her 2025 memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, describes these losses and her effort to continue living with pain and sorrow.
Her new novel, Music Against the Night, follows two musical prodigies in the late 1700s and early 1800s, whose ambitions bring them together and pull them apart.
Li says she chose music because words often fall short after loss, and music can express what words cannot.
She began piano lessons in late 2023, before James died, and says playing helped her count time and stay connected to the world.
The novel turns to music rather than grief as its central subject, though it was underway when James died.
Yiyun Li’s new novel, Music Against the Night, centers on two musical prodigies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Li says she turned to music because words can fall short.
Her teenage sons, Vincent and James, died by suicide six years apart.
Li’s 2025 memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, chronicled the loss of her sons.
Li says she expects to live with what she calls an “abyss” for the rest of her life.
- Who
- Writer Yiyun Li, whose sons Vincent and James died by suicide.
- What
- Li’s new novel, Music Against the Night, focuses on two prodigies brought together by music and divided by their aspirations.
- When
- The novel is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Li’s sons died in 2017 and 2024.
- Where
- Not stated
- Why
- Li chose music because she wanted a subject where words naturally fall short.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Li’s son Vincent died by suicide at age 16.
Li began taking piano lessons.
Li’s son James died by suicide at age 19.
Li’s memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, won the Pulitzer Prize.
- New novel
- Music Against the Night
- Novel setting
- Late 18th and early 19th centuries
- Son
- Vincent died in 2017 at age 16
- Son
- James died in 2024 at age 19
- Memoir
- Things in Nature Merely Grow, published in 2025
What people are saying
I think I've had the feeling both times after my children's death that words often fall short, and falling short doesn't mean not succeeding, falling short doesn't mean failing,
James' death taught me to suffer better,
I began my piano lessons at the end of 2023, purely to get to know how to play the piano.
Sources
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