Mozart’s Sister
By Nancy Moser
(Bethany House 2006)
For all the music or historical fiction lovers on your gift list, Nancy Moser’s exquisite novel will whisk them away to 18th-century Vienna. Did you even know Mozart had a sister? Six years his senior, Nannerl was every bit as talented as her precocious and highly acclaimed brother. Yet because she was a woman, she was overlooked by society, as well as her father.
The book is told from Nannerl’s point of view and reads like a piece of music, with sections entitled “Prelude,” “Overture,” “Interlude,” and more. The author’s beautiful writing and detailed research give readers an intimate peek into the eccentric personalities who inhabit the Mozart home. For those of us who do most of our traveling by armchair, Moser’s dramatic tale is richly satisfying.