Followed by a Live Discussion and Book Signing with Author and Screenwriter Ben Shattuck
Sponsored by Edgartown Books
Starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, The History of Sound is a sweeping, moving and tender romance that spans decades and continents. In 1917, Lionel—a young, talented music student—meets David at the Boston Conservatory, where they bond over a deep love of folk music. Years later, Lionel receives a letter from David, leading to an impromptu journey through the backwoods of Maine to collect traditional songs. This unexpected reunion, ensuing love affair, and the music they collect and preserve, will shape the course of Lionel’s life far beyond his own awareness.
From director Oliver Hermanus (Living), this is a beautiful and compelling cinematic experience that tells the story of a love that can’t last, a life forever altered, and the ways in which music creates bonds between us that echo for a lifetime.
Ben Shattuck’s most recent book, The History of Sound (Viking, 2024) was the winner of the 2025 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award and the Story Prize Spotlight Award, and was shortlisted for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. His film adaptation of the title story premiered at the 2025 Cannes film festival. His first book, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau (Tin House, 2022), was a New Yorker Best Book of 2022, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of Spring, a New York Times Best Book of Summer, a New England Bestseller, and was nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and winner of the PEN Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and a Pushcart Prize. He lives with his wife and daughter on the coast of Massachusetts, where he owns and runs the oldest general store in America, built in 1793.
