Barbara Quick Vivaldi's Virgins

Vivaldi's Virgins

Barbara Quick

HarperCollins, Jul 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 9780060890520

In 18th century Venice, when orphaned Anna Maria dal Violin was very young she displayed talent at playing the violin. Thus she is one of the fortunate selected to practice at Ospedale della Pieta under the tutelage of maestro Vivaldi.

Although she and her female peers are forbidden to leave the orphanage, they sneak out whenever they can to tour the city. Anna Marie especially wants to know more about her parents beyond what she has been told that they are dead. Still in spite of her restrictive life, Anna Marie loves playing the violin, but Sister Laura worries about her soul. She orders Anna Maria to begin writing things down hoping that will cool off the fervor that her charge seems to emit. Anna Maria takes to writing with a passion as she pens notes to her mother staring in 1709; knowing obviously that her dead mom, whomever she is, will never read them.

This is an interesting historical drama that focuses on Vivaldi and Venice through Anna Marie who tells the tale in a first hand account or through her letters to her mom. It is the letters that give the credence to the early eighteenth century setting even as the notes show how much the heroine needs her mom, whom she never met. Genre readers will be enthralled by Anna Marie's quest to just know who her mom was, but Venetians hide behind masks making her efforts impossible. With a delightful final twisting coda, Barbara Quick provides a superb biographical fiction story as Vivaldi is showcased through the life of a real student of the Four Seasons composer.

Harriet Klausner