Whale Music is a novel by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 writer Paul Quarrington

Paul Quarrington

Paul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator.-Background:...

. It was first published by Doubleday Canada in 1989.

The novel's central character is Desmond Howl, a reclusive former rock star who has lived in virtual seclusion from the world since the death of his brother Danny in a car accident. Instead of engaging with the world, Howl spends all his time composing instrumental symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 for the whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

s that congregate near his dilapidated seaside mansion. Howl's life is turned upside down, however, when he finds a mysterious woman named Claire asleep in his living room one morning.

The character of Desmond Howl was based on Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

.

The novel won the 1989 Governor General's Award

1989 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1989 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 dollars and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.-Fiction:...

 for English fiction

Governor General's Award for English language fiction

This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for English language fiction.-1930s:*1936: Bertram Brooker, Think of the Earth*1937: Laura Salverson, The Dark Weaver*1938: Gwethalyn Graham, Swiss Sonata...

. It was also adapted into a film

Whale Music (film)

Whale Music is a 1994 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Richard J. Lewis. It is based on the comic novel of the same name by Paul Quarrington .-Plot:...

 in 1994. Quarrington wrote the film's screenplay, and the Canadian indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band Rheostatics

Rheostatics

Rheostatics was a Genie Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007.Although they had only one Top 40 hit, "Claire" in 1995, they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and unconventional rock bands, a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been...

 composed the film's soundtrack

Music from the Motion Picture Whale Music

Music from The Motion Picture Whale Music is a 1994 album by Rheostatics. It is the soundtrack to the film version of Paul Quarrington's novel Whale Music, and should not be confused with the band's 1992 album Whale Music....

.