Mozart's Sister - Rita Charbonnier

In this novel based on historical fact, Mozart's sister is a gifted musician, possibly a greater talent than her younger brother. Charbonnier takes readers on a lush tour of 18th-century Europe and into the fascinating life of a woman who ultimately finds a way to express her own genius. \nThe fascinating life of Wolfgang's older sister, Nannerl--whose talent may have equaled her brother's \nMaria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, affectionately called Nannerl by her family, could play the piano with an otherworldly skill from the time she was a child. At the tender age of five, she gave her first public performance, amazing the assembled gentlemen and ladies with the beautiful music she created. \n \nYet it was her brother, Wolfgang, who carried their father's dreams of glory. As the siblings matured, Nannerl's prodigious talent was brushed aside. Instead of playing alongside her brother in the world's great cities, she was forced to stop performing and become a provincial piano teacher to support Wolfgang's career. Nannerl might have accepted this life in her brother's shadow but for the appearance of a potential suitor who reawakened her passion for life, for love, for music--and who threatened to upset the delicate balance that kept the Mozart family in harmony.\n