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Vivaldi's Lost Concerto
Year
2019
Language
ENGLISH
Publication Information
Jennifer Mackenzie
Summary
Vivaldi's Lost Concerto is inspired by the 2010 discovery of a Vivaldi flute concerto in the archives of a medieval Scottish Abbey and is an historical mystery with a contemporary parallel story, intertwining romantic settings with clear-eyed social realism. Having survived a brutal prison term Fiona Sinclair, a recovering drug addict, begins the road to recovery, clinging desperately to one fragile link to her past — the music of Scotland. Given a battered flute by her music therapist, Teresa, Fiona begins to build the confidence she needs to become the woman she wants to be. By chance, she hears a flute concerto that has only recently been discovered and is stunned to realize she already knows the tune. Her research takes her, and the reader, into the desperate and dangerous lives of Vivaldi's housekeeper Paolina Giro, who is also his secret lover, and Lord Robert Kerr, the purchaser of the concerto - a gay man trying to escape his father's brutal demands that he fight against his fellow country men - the Jacobites. The novel is a mystery about love, music and family secrets. Set in romantic locations, it explores the lives of marginalised groups such as prisoners, isolated women and gay men, through themes of desparation and hope, isolation and friendship. A soundtrack of baroque and traditional Scottish music weaves through the novel, celebrating the healing power of music. It will appeal to readers of Kate Morton, Geraldine Brooks, Tracy Chevalier, and Diane Gabaldon.