The Kingdom of Back

This book had me utterly smitten – from the cover to the blurb to the pages and story in between! How is this not featured more frequently? First of all, it is STUNNING. And the cover immediately sets the mood for the dark fairytale you are about to discover in “The Kingdom of Back”. I’ve always been obsessed with music in any form, and I have been particularly fascinated with the Mozart siblings for almost as long. The wonder of W.A. Mozart, a child so young, composing masterpieces, and the wonder of his sisters Nannerl who this story is centered around. I cannot even begin to describe what I love about this book. I think what got me invested in the beginning was the dark and fairytale like atmosphere @marieluthewriter creates in this piece. It enraptured me completely and I dove deeper and deeper into the story that is filled with magic and historical facts! Her writing is easy and sometimes poetic and very vivid (I almost felt like I had travelled to the kingdom of back myself). And oh the plot twists – even though I had a gut feeling the revelation was so much better!! I loved the fact, that even though there was a lot of magic to this, it still felt somewhat historically accurate. And on top of all of this there were some very delicate yet clear tones on feminism, trusting yourself and finding your way in life. I had the best time watching Nannerl and Wolferl grow up, dreaming of the Kingdom of Back, composing their masterpieces, their love for one another as siblings. To follow them along their journey through all of Europe, to the magical realm and back. The relationship between the characters and the characters themselves were extremely well written! Marie Lu had me smiling, giggling and kicking my feet. While crying (in the end) and oh I got SO mad at their father and how he treated Nannerl. How women in general must have been treated back then. How man female artists never got to publish their music, their books, their art. All the feels truly. I can only say thank you for this dark tale about desires, wishes and dangers looming in our minds and hearts. This will for sure be on my favourite list for this year!

Wonderful book. The more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. It was fascinating to see an interpretation of Nannerl's story and her growing up. A child prodigy herself, she lived in the shadow of her little brother Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart simply because she was a girl, a woman and therefore not "allowed" to compose. "What beautiful creations were lost to us forever, because Nannerl was a woman? How many other countless talents have been silenced by history? Whether for their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or socio-economic circumstances?" - author's note