Customer Reviews

In Mozart's Shadow: His Sister's Story

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Beautifully evoked in every way, this is the story of the forgotten Mozart: his charming, pretty, highly gifted musical sister Nannerl. Beginning in the backwater town of Salzburg in the early 1760's, the father of the family Leopold Mozart (who was a gifted composer himself), realized his six year old son Wolfgang and eleven year old daughter Nannerl were extraordinary musicians and toured them all over Europe to play before royalty and the elite. But the spirited, imaginative boy Wolfgang Mozart soon drew all the attention. Nannerl was a gifted keyboardist and he was a genius in performing and composition. For the rest of her long life she would live in his shadow.

As an 18th century woman, Nannerl could have made her way in music as a singer, but she was not a singer and thus her love of music, which she had shared with her little brother and which equaled his, largely lay frustrated within her. All the family energy went to further her brother's career, for as a man and a composer, he could one day support them well. But he grew up and away from his father's possessive hold and Nannerl went on to make her own life.

One so loves Nannerl in this sypathetic book as she tries gently to find who she is apart from her brilliant brother and domineering father. The Mozart family, friends and times are warmly, wonderfully drawn. She grows up, tries to find love and to compromise and still, even as her correspondance with her beloved brother who is now famous in Vienna draws to an end, she is determined to keep the music she shared with him as a child alive in her.

In the end this novel is not just for someone who wants to read about the Mozart family, but for any girl or young woman who ever struggled between adoration and envy of a brilliant brother and goes on loving him long after he has left her for a brighter life.

I am the author of the novel MARRYING MOZART (Viking Penguin).

I have loved every single one of Carolyn Meyer's books. She draws characters so life-like that we grow to love each and every one of them like we personally know them. Princess Catherine has always been my favorite, yet Nannerl might take her place.
Nannerl Mozart is the older and very talented sister of the more famous Wolfgang. She never gives up hope that one day she will be sent to Italy to study, therefore becoming Europe's best female clavier player. However, her control-freak and ambitious father is concentrated fully on young Wolferl, who he believes can bring fame and fortune to the family. Much of their childhood is spent traveling to the grand courts, but when Nannerl wants to go to Italy with her brother she is denied. She has been left home and abandoned mentally by her father. Throughout the book several love intrests pop up, but her true love is an aging captain named Armand, who is by her side all the time even when her father forbids them from marrying.
The writing in this book is flawless. Although a little dragging at parts, I found the detail and imagining very accurate. The only comment I have is that characters with no particular significance to the story, like Davey, shouldn't really have been put in as they have nothing to add. As this is a work that has real people in it, I understand why Nannerl didn't have a happy ending, but at the same time I wish she became a big star and married Armand. But that's history, so it cannot be changed for romantics such as me.
This new Carolyn Meyer book pleases. Nannerl is a strong and hopeful girl, and she might become your new favorite character. If you enjoyed the author's other books, you will certainly like this one.

Carolyn Meyer again spins a touching and beautiful tale, imagined from the point of view of Mozart's sister, Nannerl. The frustration talented girls must have felt at that time, especially one who was constantly in the "shadow" of her famous younger brother, is eloquently depicted in this engaging novel.

I'm always on the lookout for well-researched novels about composers, and fortunately more and more of them have appeared in recent years. I especially appreciate when these stories are told from a female perspective, giving voice to the "unsung heroines" who so often played a major role in the lives and artistries of their more famous male counterparts.

Sarah Bruce Kelly
Author of THE RED PRIEST'S ANNINA

I was thrilled to see a new Carolyn Meyer book! I own four other books by her(including the Young Royals Series) and I continue to be huge fan! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. She did a great job describing Nannerl's life while not forgetting about events in Mozart's life. I think it was a great subject to write a novel about and I am thrilled that I gained some new insight into a woman I had never heard of before! It was a great read and Carolyn Meyer did not disappoint me at all. I highly recommend it!

Young Nannerl Mozart, like her younger brother Wolfgang Mozart, has been a talented musician since the time she was a small child. And it is from a young age that she is forced by an unloving and overbearing father to continuously give up her hopes and dreams for the sake of her brother. As a little girl she was allowed to perform by her father, who wanted to show off his children as child prodigies, but even then, she knew he preferred her brother.

When she is too old to be a child prodigy any longer, Nannerl must suffer and sacrifice even more due to the demands of her father, who is determined to put all his efforts into promoting his son's career. Because she is a girl, she cannot become a famous musician, despite her great talent, and because of her father, she is prevented from studying, pursuing a position at court, or marrying the man of her choosing. Though she loves her brother, she becomes increasingly distant from him due to his career and her own unhappiness at the loss of all her dreams.

In Mozart's Shadow is another excellent historical novel from the talented Carolyn Meyer. Once again she takes a young woman from the pages of history and brings her to life with all her feelings, hopes, and dreams. Nannerl Mozart was a talented young woman forced to sacrifice so much for her family, and hopefully this and other books about her will give her some of the fame she rightfully deserved in her own lifetime but was prevented from achieving because of her gender and the demands of her family.

You'll see them in early depictions of "The Mozart Family." There they are, sister and brother, hands crossed as they perform some difficult piece on the harpsichord, accompanied by proud Papa Leopold with his violin. Yes, Wolfgang Mozart had a musically talented older sister! We don't know if she would have composed in the same grand manner, but we can certainly wonder. Nannerl, as she was called at home, is a perfect case of what happens when women are not allowed the same opportunities as men. In the late 18th Century, a musician's career was, in a limited sense, possible for a woman, but it was not probable without a male relative willing to act as sponsor. In a letter, Wolfgang wrote, "After God, comes Papa," and here, truly, was the insurmountable obstacle.

In Mozart's Shadow is the story of dashed hopes and talent wasted, of the endless sacrifices required by an implacably controlling father. Having lost his hold on Wolfgang, Leopold never let go of Nannerl. This is a well-written, but inevitably sad story, one from which today's girls, receiving conflicting messages about women's rights, can learn.

This book is amazing! I never knew too much about Mozart and what he did for the world except writting symphonies at the tender ages. I never even knew he had a story! What originally attracted me to this novel was the historical fiction aspect of it. I then saw that it was about Mozart and his sister, I was worried it would be too much about music. In other books with music involved, the lyrics of songs would be put into the story and you would have to make up your own tune to the story. Not in this book! As the story progressed, it became more about Nannerl's personal life. To be honest, I wasn't that disappointed that music was become PART of the story and not a story about music! There were many unexpected plot changes, but not quite twists and turns. I was always hoping Nannerl made a good choice. Whether it was choosing a husband, ealing with the stress of a famous and irresponsible brother, or a demanding father, Nannerl had a lot on her plate! After reading this book, I'm glad I wasn't born in the 1700's!

We all know about Wolfgang Mozart, the wonderfully talented musician, but what many of us don't know is that his older sister, Nannerl, was also incredibly talented. She was, in the beginning, thought of as her brother's equivalent. They played together in concerts, sometimes in front of royalty, making money for their family. But soon, she was overshadowed by her brother, but that didn't stop her from playing.

She wanted, more than anything, to go to a prestigious music school -- but her father would not allow it and forced her to stay in boring Salzburg with her mother. IN MOZART'S SHADOW follows Nannerl from the time she and her brother begin playing throughout her entire life.

To be honest, the book dragged a bit at the beginning, but after the first fifty pages or so I felt myself being dragged into the world of Nannerl and her family. Her story is both heartbreaking and easy to relate to. Though she lived in a completely different time and led a much different life, I could feel myself understanding her actions and cheering her on. The writing was great and the voice was true to the characters, who were all very realistic.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes reading historical fiction or who admires the Mozart family.

Reviewed by: Harmony

I chose this book to read to my children (ages 12, 11, and 9) because of our love for classical music and historical fiction. While the story overall was very good, it dragged way too much. I didn't think we'd ever finish. The first half, in particular, dragged on with the same stories over and over about Mozart and Nannerl's early years of traveling and performing. Sometimes I felt like the author was more concerned about using as many beautiful European names as she could to introduce characters that went nowhere than moving the story along.

That being said, I really enjoyed the second half of the book, once Mozart and Nannerl were forced to separate. The depiction of the unfairness of the sexes was well done and my sons couldn't believe how unfairly Nannerl was treated. Knowing of course how Mozart's life would end, from this point on I was very interested to see how the author would do the same for Nannerl.