Amazon.com Review
Marley's genre-crossing tale of music and healing is built, literally, around the human bones found beneath Benjamin Franklin's London abode. Eilish Eam, an Irish orphan from Seven Dials, is saved from a life of squalor when Franklin hears her playing musical glasses on the street. Eilish is taken into Franklin's household to help tune, and then to play, his latest invention--the glass harmonica. But though Eilish is enamored of the instrument, enjoys the comfort of Franklin's house, and delights in a friendship with renowned harpsichordist Marianne Davies, she cannot divorce herself from her past or the handicapped child, Mackie, whom she left behind.
Complementing Eilish's tale is that of Erin Rushton. Erin is a musical prodigy, the greatest contemporary player of the glass harmonica--an instrument that, in 2018, has become fashionable again due to the wave of nostalgia sweeping the country. Erin's America is the product of civility laws run amok. Cities have been "reclaimed"--and very nearly turned into theme parks of the past--while the unsightly poor have been removed to vast tent cities.
Erin has recently been troubled by an apparition, first seen when she plays Franklin's original harmonica in Boston. To add to her stress, Erin's twin brother, stricken by a neurological disorder and wheelchair-bound since childhood, has recently begun an experimental and potentially dangerous therapy under the direction of Gene Berrick, a young doctor struggling to overcome the taint of his tent-city upbringing.
As the tale progresses, Eilish and Erin glimpse each other more frequently, at first fearfully, and later affectionately, as they help each other understand the healing properties of their instrument.
It's been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, but Marley's background as an opera singer informs the rehearsal and concert scenes with great vitality.
Marley has packed The Glass Harmonica with enough ideas for several novels. She has intriguing things to say about the relationships between music, emotion, and health, and about the seemingly unbridgeable gap between privilege and poverty; but these parts somehow fail to make up a satisfying whole, and leave many questions--particularly about Erin's world--unanswered. --Eddy Avery
From the Publisher
It is rare to find a book that can fit into multiple genres and do it well. Marley's latest offering does just that. Although it is billed as science fiction, this book might just as easily fit into historical fiction as well. There also is some mystery with a little bit of romance thrown in.
The Glass Harmonica tells two different but connected stories about two young girls and the music of the glass harmonica. Half of the story takes place in eighteenth-century London, as a young girl named Eilish assists Benjamin Franklin with the invention of the glass harmonica. Although Eilish was not a real person, most of the characters in her part of the story are historically accurate. The rest of the tale is set in 2018, with musical prodigy Erin. Erin and Eilish share the love of the glass harmonica and the ability to play it well. The girls also share the ability to "see" each other through time. It is clear that Eilish has information for Erin, although neither one of them knows what that is until the end of the novel. This well-written, engaging story is sure to arouse curiosity about the instrument and prompt further discussion. The possibilities for use in the classroom are endless. Public librarians would be wise to incorporate this novel into a book discussion group. Although it is not aimed directly at teens, there is nothing to discourage them from reading this book. The different periods and points of view might be too much for young readers to follow, but older teens should not have a problem keeping up with the story.
VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000, Ace Books, 334p, Trade pb. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Jennifer Rice
VOYA, February 2001 (Vol. 23, No.6)
