The Age of Anxiety

by Pete Townshend

First published 2020

The narrator moves through the wild landscape of the music industry, his cultured wit masking deeper instabilities. He speaks with sharp intelligence about the business that both feeds and devours its artists, but his observations twist and shift like smoke. Reality bends around him as hallucinations creep into his daily existence. The sound itself becomes a living thing, wrapping around his thoughts and memories. His journey winds through a labyrinth of fame and madness, where divine inspiration and mental breakdown dance together. Lost children surface in his story, connections severed by time and circumstance. The narrator's genius burns bright and dangerous, casting shadows that reveal the true cost of creation. His unreliable voice draws readers deeper into a world where music and madness intertwine, where the line between artistic vision and delusion dissolves completely.

Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, music, psychological-thriller

Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: genius, unreliable-narrator

272 pages · Paperback · Coronet Books

Content warnings: mental-illness

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