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The Kingdom of Back Hardcover – March 3, 2020
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Two siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.
Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish--to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she'll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age--her tyrannical father has made that much clear.
And as Nannerl's hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true--but his help may cost her everything.
In her first work of historical fiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu spins a lush, lyrically-told story of music, magic, and the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.
- Reading age12 - 17 years
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 9
- Lexile measureHL790L
- Dimensions5.81 x 1.11 x 8.56 inches
- PublisherG.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateMarch 3, 2020
- ISBN-101524739014
- ISBN-13978-1524739010
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A beautifully evocative cover and a feminist angle on Mozart’s older sister, Nannerl (a talented pianist and composer in her own right), will have readers grabbing for Lu’s latest title.” —Booklist
“A gorgeous story about what it means to be forgotten.” —Buzzfeed
“With a unique premise and an understated beauty . . . this novel is unlike anything else [Lu’s] published. It is historical fact transformed into a fairy tale and twisted into a tragedy. There is no question of Lu’s extraordinary literary talent; she is at peak form here with her nuanced tale of sibling rivalry and familial distrust.” —Tor.com
“A beautifully composed historical fantasy that will enthrall readers, especially those with music in their hearts.” —School Library Journal
“In Lu’s capable hands, [Nannerl is] finally resurrected, and her story and music sing.” —BookPage
"Lu shows her knack for creating detailed worlds while seamlessly building a complicated sibling relationship with a balance of rivalry and love." —Publishers Weekly
“Lu’s exploration of the complex Mozart family dynamics and the period in which they lived is fascinating.” —Horn Book Reviews
“A dreamlike story about music, magic, and the Mozart siblings. . . the end result is spellbinding.” —BookRiot
“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 Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1759
MOZART BY THE OCEAN
Sometimes, a day comes along that seems possessed by a certain shade of magic. You know those moments. There is a peculiar pattern to the silhouettes of leaves quivering against the sunbeam on the floor. The dust in the air glows white, charmed. Your voice is a note suspended in the breeze. The sounds outside your window seem very far away, songs of another world, and you imagine that this is the moment just before something unusual happens. Perhaps it is happening right now.
My day of magic arrived on a bright autumn morning, when the poplar trees swayed against a golden city. I had recently turned eight years old. My brother, Wolfgang, was not yet four.
I was still playing through my exercises when Papa came through the door with Herr Schachtner at his side, the two of them discussing some matter or other about the archbishop, their hair blown wispy from the bustle of the Getreidegasse, the city’s main thoroughfare, on which our home stood.
I paused in the middle of my arpeggios and folded my hands in my lap. Even now, I can remember the uneven stitching of my blue petticoat, my white hands against black clavier keys, the skeleton leaves clinging to Herr Schachtner’s shoulders. His voice had been steeped in something rich and baritone. The scent of the street— wind and smoke and baked bread—lingered like a perfume on his coat.
My lips were rosy and dry. My hair stayed neatly curled behind my neck in loose dark waves, held back with pins. I was still too young to fuss over my appearance, so my mother had left me in a simple state.
“Herr Schachtner!” My mother’s voice sweetened with surprise at the sound of men in the room. She said this as if we were not expecting him at all, the esteemed court trumpeter of Salzburg, as if we had not planned everything in advance for his visit. “Such talk of the archbishop and the orchestra, it’s no wonder you and my husband are always tired. Sebastian,” she added, nodding at our manservant. “The Herr’s coat and hat.”
Sebastian hung up the court trumpeter’s belongings. They were finely made, velvet encrusted with gold lining, his hat made of beaver pelt and trimmed with lace. Beside them, my father’s coat appeared worn, the threads thin at the elbows. My eyes wandered to the hem of my mother’s dress—it was fraying, the color dull. We were the look of a family forever on the edge of respectable.
My father was too busy with our guest to pay me any mind, but Mama noticed the stiffness in my posture and the paleness of my cheeks. She gave me an encouraging glance as she passed me.
Steady, little one, she had said to me earlier in the morning. You have practiced hard for this. Do not be nervous.
I kept her words in mind and tried to loosen my shoulders. But Papa had timed their arrival a bit too early this morning. I had only played my scales so far. My fingers had not yet shaken the cold from their tips, and when I pressed down on the keys, they still felt as if they were somewhere far away.
My brother stayed mercifully out of sight today, hiding somewhere in our parents’ bedroom, no doubt up to some mischief. I hoped he would remain quiet until Herr Schachtner left, or at least until I finished playing.
The Herr gave Mama a warm smile that crinkled the edges of his mouth and molded his face into a pleasant sight. “Ah, Frau Mozart,” he replied, winking at her as he kissed her hand. “I always tell Leopold how lucky he is to have found the rare woman with a good ear.”
My mother blushed and thanked him for his kind words. Her skirts glided against the floor as she curtsied. “I can only claim my gifted ear from my father,” she told him. “He was a talented musician, you know.”
As she moved, I memorized the polite tilt of her head and the way she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. Somewhere in those movements must have been her true reaction to his statement, but her face remained as it always was, serene and secretive, sweet and mild. It was clear she pleased the Herr, because his grin broadened.
“Yes, God has blessed me in many ways,” my father said. His smile was coiled as tightly as my nerves. His eyes flashed in my direction, hard and glittering. “Nannerl inherits her good ear from her mother, as you’ll soon see.”
It was my unspoken cue. At my father’s words, I rose obediently from my bench to greet our guest. Papa disliked it when I curtsied without stepping away from the clavier or let my gaze wander anywhere that was not the floor. He said it made visitors think me a distracted and careless young lady.
I could not give Herr Schachtner any reason to find me rude.
Serene and sweet. I thought of Mama and tried to imitate the way she had lowered her head just so, the demure way she’d swept her skirts across the floor. Still, my curiosity stirred, and my eyes darted immediately to the court trumpeter’s hands, searching for proof of musical talent in the way his fingers moved.
Mama called for Sebastian to bring some coffee and tea, but Papa waved her off. “Later,” he said. It was best, perhaps, if the Herr did not see our porcelain set. I pictured the old saucers with their small chips, the teapot’s fading paint. Mama had begged him for a new one for proper company, but it had been ages since we had a reason to entertain such guests. Until today.
Product details
- Publisher : G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (March 3, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1524739014
- ISBN-13 : 978-1524739010
- Reading age : 12 - 17 years
- Lexile measure : HL790L
- Grade level : 7 - 9
- Item Weight : 15.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.81 x 1.11 x 8.56 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #630,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #126 in Teen & Young Adult Music Fiction
- #557 in Teen & Young Adult Siblings Fiction
- #1,607 in Teen & Young Adult Social Issues
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Marie Lu (www.marielu.org) is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels Legend, Prodigy, and Champion, as well as The Young Elites. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry, working for Disney Interactive Studios as a Flash artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing Assassin’s Creed, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California (see above: traffic), with one husband, one Chihuahua mix, and two Pembroke Welsh corgis.
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The story follows Mozart’s obscure (and real) older sister, known as Nannerl as she’s growing up with Wolfgang. She’s also a composer, but it’s not proper for 18th century girls and women to compose music. Only play until reaching marrying age and waste her talent, which frustrates her that she’ll be forgotten after her death, unlike her male counterparts. Once she sees The Kingdom of Back, things get a lot more complex as she has a chance to have a legacy if she does certain things, giving the book a fantasy element. A young Wolfgang also comes along for the adventures and affects Nannerl as they grow older.
I enjoyed Nannerl; she didn’t feel like a 21st century woman dropped into the past. While she’s frustrated (and rightly so) that she can’t write music and has to basically be submissive for being a girl, she seeks to bend the rules, not break them, learning what she can and cannot do. She learns a lot over the years (yes, this book takes place over the span of a decade of Nannerl’s childhood). I love the bond she has with her younger brother, it’s complex and not always clean, which gives it an extra pinch of realism. The characters were all fleshed out, especially the Mozart siblings. While I did confuse some of the background characters (especially as some weren’t around for very long), the Mozarts were clear in their role in the story.
The worlds are vivid and immersive, both the real world of 18th century Europe and the fictional kingdom, and while I felt some of the transitions were a bit choppy between the worlds, they had their own identity. The lore felt correct to the time period as well. The prose was clean and easy to read, and I loved the foreshadowing and many twists that came in the story, with status quo not staying the same for too long. Harsh elements of living in that time period like disease and long travel are not glossed over either.
Despite it being the manuscript that got Lu an agent, it wasn’t released until 2020, as most of her work written since and released prior are considered dark dystopians. I was shocked how much of Lu’s story was based and inspired by actual events, that the siblings actually did have their own world called The Kingdom of Back, but of course Lu added fantastical elements.
It’s a must read if you’re interested in music, legacies, sibling bonding and that touch of the fantastic that grabbed me, and I look forward to reading more of Lu’s works.
But only one of the Mozart children could become a legendary composer. And Nannerl was a girl. How she wished she could leave a legacy, be remembered. But her brother was always the one who was noticed. So precocious. So gifted. So engaging.
One night, Nannerl has a dream, a dream in which she hears a perfect, beautiful melody, one which she tries to recapture after she wakes, but she can’t quite remember it exactly. She also sees a boy at a distance, with a flashing white smile and glowing blue eyes.
For weeks, she catches snatches of sounds that remind her of the melody. She tries to play it at the clavier, but it eludes her.
Woferl (her brother’s nickname) asks her to tell him a story, and so she makes one up from her dream, which takes place in a faraway kingdom where two moons shine in the night sky. The story grows, and she adds more and more details to it.
Little by little, magic enters their lives—edelweiss blooms grow from a page in Nannerl’s notebook; they meet the boy from her dream, a faery princeling named Hyacinth.
Hyacinth promises Nannerl that he can make her wish come true. But she must be willing to help him reclaim the kingdom that has been stolen from him.
If I tell you any more I’ll give the story away. But I will tell you that there is jealousy, and betrayal, and evil, and suspense, and heartache.
This is the first book by Lu that I’ve read; she’s written ten others before this. The Kingdom of Back is good: imaginative and satisfying. I have one problem with it though. Nannerl insists her father would be mad at her if he knew she was composing. However, we never see any evidence of his position; there is never a conversation between the two of them about music composition not being a suitable occupation for women. Woferl several times suggests she show their father her work, but she refuses. Instead, she hides it where she assumes he’ll never find it. That leads to a betrayal, but it’s not clear exactly what happened or who did the betraying; Nannerl jumps to a conclusion. I know I’m being obtuse, but I’m trying not to give away a major plot point.
Top reviews from other countries
Hard to believe as it may be ‘The Kingdom Of Back’ is somehow my first book by Marie Lu. Considering how truly delightful it was it certainly won’t be my last though and I simply cannot wait to devour more of her, hopefully similarly splendid, works. Categorising this book is hard because it honestly is unlike anything that I’ve read before. It has the glorious allure and enchantment of a book featuring the fae yet also contains the uncertainty and questioning (are certain events real or truly fantastical?) of the gothic horror novels I love, although this book certainly isn’t a horror one. It has the wondrous merging of history and magic, the timeless feel of a fairytale and the strong sense of frustration caused by the constraints of history placed upon women. It’s such a rare and dazzling gem of a book that I truly don’t know what to say about it.
Nannerl is someone that I knew next to nothing about prior to picking up this book. I’d heard of her, although only from an episode of ‘The Simpsons’ that I’d only partially seen of all things. Marie Lu truly brought her character to life in this book though. She depicted an all too believable tale of the conflicting love and frustration that she could have felt towards her famous brother due to the constraints that society placed upon her as a woman. It was wonderful to see her and her brother traversing the world as child prodigies whilst simultaneously venturing into the mysterious Kingdom Of Back that may or may not have been dreamed up by their imaginations.
Both the magical and historic elements of this book were superbly depicted and I loved seeing how Nannerl’s ‘real’ life was being affected by her time spent in the fairytale kingdom that she and her brother had dreamt up. I could gush about my adoration of this novel for hours, in truth, but honestly feel that the less said the better. This is the kind of tale that you should discover fully for yourself.
So it basically goes without saying that I whole heartedly recommend this book. It has the feel of a timeless, enchanting fairytale and that of a future classic. It’s beautifully written, powerful and definitely has the ability to play upon your mind. It’s a story that I fully intend to read again in the future and one I’d now consider to be within my favourites. Needless to say I can’t wait to catch up on Marie Lu’s backlist of books now.
Nannerl is a piano prodigy with a talent that is soon overlooked when her father discovers her younger brother is just as talented. Who will ever remember her, a girl, when she can't even compose? Her brother can do anything he wishes and despite their closeness, resentment grows in Nannerl. When she meets a fairy creature named Hyacinth, he offers her a deal: he'll help her be remembered if she helps him reclaim his lost throne in the Kingdom of Back. As Nannerl outwits witches, ogres and slays river guardians in his world, her world becomes increasingly complicated. She must choose which one offers her what she truly wants: immortality.
This was a very quick read which is a testament to how well it's written. I particularly loved the passage of time and how it was handled by Marie Lu. She started with an eight-year-old girl and ended with a young woman. There are some fabulously vivid passages as well--particularly the part where Nannerl performs for the Emperor and Empress. The narrative is o beautifully woven. Gorgeous read :)
When I started reading it I must admit it wasn't what I expected at all. But I carried on and before I knew it. I was hooked. It's a mix between historical fiction and fantasy and it works perfectly. Two completely different worlds. The story focuses on music (piano) by Nannerl and Wolfgang Mozart. Nannerl wishes she won't she be forgotton and her wish will soon be granted via helping another in a fantasy world herself and her brother created, but everything is not as it seems and she may have got it all wrong.
The story includes the highs and lows of both the siblings. The tasks Nannerl has to complete for her wish to come true but it soon turns dark and twisted. Nannerl has to fix it all before her wish costs her the most important thing (her brother). Brilliant written, imaginative, original. Perfect. I seriously loved it. Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars from me.















