This is a feeling thing, not an aesthetic thing, says Julia Hollander of the music made all around the world during the Covid lockdowns of 2020-2021. As cities quieted and tranquillity became the norm – no traffic, no planes, no pneumatic drills, school playgrounds empty – all around the globe the sound of shocked silence reverberated as people began to hear birds trilling, our own breathing, breeze in the trees and – surely not! – singing.

Why We Sing

Hollander is a singer, community music teacher, learned researcher, precocious opera director (ENO, age 25), political activist and, of course, a mother. Beginning with the birth of humanity and the birth of a baby, this book is evidence that she is also a writer of flair and fluency. Why We Sing is fascinating, surprising, illuminating, heartwarming and absolutely unputdownable. (Not something I was expecting, although now it would be impossible to say why.)

Hollander begins with the kidney bean in the womb to explain how two strands eventually become airway and foodway, and where they migrate between the skull and...