Magic flutes by Eva Ibbotson
Pan Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 9781447280095
(Age: 12-15) Highly recommended. Music. Opera. Art. Romance. Vienna.
In post-World War 1 Vienna, Tessa takes on a new identity as the
girl who does everything behind the stage in the theatre. Meanwhile
a handsome millionaire, Guy, buys a fairytale castle and discovers
that its heiress is missing. Both lives collide and Tessa's secret
is in jeopardy.
First published in the 1980's a new edition of this classic story
comes with a stylish cover that will attract readers today. What
could be the usual take on a girl meets millionaire, both overcoming
adversity to find true love is taken much further by the beautiful
writing of Eva Ibbotson, who brings alive the period in the 1920's
in Austria where the aristocracy were struggling to survive and
where opera is so important in the wonderful city of Vienna. Readers
will be introduced to fabulous pieces of information about music and
its composers like Beethoven and Mozart, while learning about the
trials and hard work that go into putting on an opera production.
Guy and Tessa are brought together by their love of music and indeed
the romance is often secondary to the passion that each feels about
art.
Vienna itself comes alive with Ibbotson's description of the city,
its food and parks and historical monuments, which are often
humorous and always enlightening. At the same time there is a subtle
undertone about the hardship that many people are going through as a
result of the war.
There is nothing mundane about the characters in Magic flutes
(renamed The reluctant heiress in a 2010 US publication).
The millionaire Guy is fleshed out: abandoned as a baby, he was
taken in by a loving woman, and turns down a knighthood from the
British Government, refusing to forget his humble origins even when
his fiancee wants to be part of the aristocracy. Tessa is
hardworking and totally dedicated to music and art, and the minor
characters all form a detailed background to life on backstage of
the theatre or in the impoverished castles of the aristocracy.
This is an intelligent and heart-warming book that fans like me will
return to when needing a reminder of how well a romance can be
written.
Pat Pledger