This is another of Louise Marley's intriguing time-travel stories, richly enhanced by her deep knowledge and love of classical music. A talented but unattractive (and ultimately dastardly) young woman pianist travels to 19th century Italy to eaves-drop on Brahms and Clara Shuman. Her emotional needs are so overwhelming that she breaks the rules and interferes and a monitor must be sent to get her back. The story is pretty straight-forward, but the telling of it is a sensitive, funny sometimes, always warmly human and, like life itself, complicated. The cover doesn't do it justice and makes it look like a romance. It must assuredly is not a penny dreadful. There is romance, of course, to be found in the warm Italy countryside, but it is much more than that. I've recommended it to my classical music friends. They love it as much as I do. The cover of the book is misleading and is not a period romance. A new scientific discovery makes it possible to return to a previous time and be a "remote observer." Francesca, a musicologist, returns to Italy in 1861, to a vacation spot that the composer Brahms has rented. When she arrives, there is a surprise. Clara Schumann, widowed from Robert for 5 years, has joined him for the two week stay. Then trouble occurs. Francesca "disappears." Another musician, Kristian, is sent to discover what went wrong. The book was a slow start but I'm glad I persevered and enjoyed the novel. Brahms is one of my favorite composers. It imagines him at age 28, tall and muscular, blue eyed and not the old man with the beard we usually remember his as.
