The Noise of Time is a compelling novel dedicated to the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, written by the bestselling and Booker Prize-winning author, Julian Barnes. The story begins in 1936, with Shostakovich, at the age of thirty, gripped by fear for his livelihood and life. His opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, has been denounced in Pravda, reflecting the opinion of Joseph Stalin himself.

Every night, Shostakovich waits on the landing outside his apartment, expecting the NKVD agents to come and take him away. He reflects on his predicament, personal history, his parents, his various relationships, and his children. Everyone connected to him hangs in the balance of his fate.

A stroke of luck prevents him from becoming another casualty of the Great Terror, yet the shadow of the government looms over him for decades. He is forced to weigh appeasing those in power against maintaining the integrity of his music. Barnes guides us through Shostakovich's life, from being oppressed under despotism to serving as a figurehead of Soviet values in New York, and eventually being coerced into joining the Party.

This novel is both a heartbreaking account of a fascinating man's experience and a brilliant meditation on the meaning of art and its place in society.