Mystery and Music in Prague
Greetings, Reading Friend!
Prague is the topic for this month, with my review of Prague Sonata, a novel I had the privilege of reading while visiting Prague recently for the first time.
While I admired the picturesque, spire-filled city, its millennium of history impressed on me the suffering of so many in Prague—especially in the Jewish quarter, ravaged by persecution for many centuries, and the execution of Jan Hus for daring to defy the Church by expressing religious ideas.
Imagine you’re a young musicologist, who at a friend’s urging meets with an ageing holocaust survivor.
How could this brief encounter possibly change the course of your life?
And how could the hunt for missing musical manuscripts from three centuries ago drastically alter multiple people’s lives in the twenty-first century?
Prague Sonata, a musical mystery and historical novel, spans two continents and more than three centuries to answer these questions and more, while taking readers on a suspenseful ride.
Irena, aware that her life will soon end, gives Meta, a young musicology graduate student, an original manuscript of the middle movement of a sonata whose composer is unknown.
Meta’s life changes immediately. She travels to Prague to search for the two missing movements of the sonata, but multiple frustrations impede her pursuit.
Prague Sonata’s themes include passion for music, love, and devotion to a quest. The novel also reveals how some characters compromise their idealism for survival and profit.
Characters:
Meta—the protagonist, musicology graduate student, and rising pianist whose injury ended her performing career
Otylie Bartosová—the sonata’s Czech owner who divided the sonata into thirds and distributed it
Jakub Bartos—Otylie’s husband, a Jewish antiquarian who joins the Resistance when the Nazis invade Czechoslovakia
Irena Svobodova—Otylie’s best friend in Prague; she plays an important role in the later plot
Gillian—Meta’s best friend; she introduces Meta to the musical mystery
Paul Mandelbaum—Meta’s graduate school mentor, whose interesting connections to Prague enrich the plot
Tomás—pianist friend of Jakub who plays an important role in the plot
Gerrit Mills—Czech-American reporter, he becomes Meta’s romantic interest and research partner in Prague
Jaromir Láska—Otylie’s father, a poor music teacher who purchased the sonata from an antiquarian; he tells Meta to “guard it as if it were your own child”
Petr Wittman—Prague musicologist and author who becomes Meta’s bête noire
Jonathan—Gillian’s brother, a New York banker who is Meta’s romantic interest early in the novel
Strengths:
In addition to an engaging plot, the author portrays characters as multi-dimensional people, with strengths and weaknesses.
Weakness:
The novel’s length may lose some readers, although the length adds to the understanding of the personalities in multiple time periods.
Content review:
This novel contains several scenes of physical intimacy, which could have been omitted without weakening the plot.
My Recommendation:
As soon as I discovered that Prague Sonata features historical fiction involving music history, as well as an exciting plot, I was hooked. Readers with similar interests, especially those who like stories transporting them to multiples locations and time periods will also enjoy this novel.
Reader, can you recommend a novel about Prague?
