A brief historical author’s note accompanies the text.

This would make an interesting counterpoint to Valente’s The Glass Town Game (BCCB 9/17) in its treatment of childhood imaginary worlds and artistic ambition both realized and thwarted. The complexity of Nannerl’s desires, choices, frustrations, and eventual murky legacy as a musician and mother exceed the novel’s attempts to reconcile them nevertheless, the shivery fantasy and bluntly realistic historical detail harmonize well, and there’s plenty to ponder about women whose contributions have been suppressed or lost to history. The emphasis on the work of music rather than its aesthetic experience renders this fantasy künstlerroman refreshingly unsentimental. Lu (The Rose Society, BCCB 1/16) interweaves the bustle of eighteenth-century Europe with increasingly sinister fairy-tale quests that test the Mozart children’s love for each other as Nannerl’s initial wish to be remembered forever matures into a longing for ownership of her compositions. The piercing unfairness of the restraints placed on Nannerl because of her gender, especially her father’s edict against women composing (a stance he’s willing enough to break, without giving her credit, when it benefits her brother), drives her into the Kingdom to strike a bargain. Bored during the endless travel that accompanies their growing fame, Nannerl and Woferl dream up the magical Kingdom of Back, which becomes hauntingly real as they age and the spotlight falls increasingly on Woferl. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever. Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wishto be remembered forever. Nannerl Mozart is a brilliantly talented musician, but the child prodigy is starting to be overshadowed by her younger brother Woferl (Wolfgang Amadeus). The Kingdom of Back Review MaMarch 23, 2020.

The kingdom of back review