Book Review | The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable is due out on August 15th. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the advance copy. I was fascinated by the description, and I wasn’t disappointed

The Instrumentalist

by Harriet Constable

Venice. 1704. In this city of glittering splendour, desperation and destitution are never far away. At the Ospedale della Pietà, abandoned orphan girls are posted every through a tiny gap in the wall every day.

Eight-year-old Anna Maria is just one of the three hundred girls growing up within the Pietà’s walls – but she already knows she is different. Obsessive and gifted, she is on a mission to become Venice’s greatest violinist and composer, and in her remarkable world of colour and sound, it seems like nothing with stop her.

But the odds are stacked against an orphan girl – so when the maestro selects her as his star pupil, Anna Maria knows she must do everything in power to please this difficult, brilliant man. But as Anna Maria’s star rises, threatening to eclipse that of her mentor, the dream she has so single-mindedly pursued is thrown into peril…

From the jewelled palaces of Venice to its mud-licked canals, this is a story of one woman’s irrepressible ambition and rise to the top, of loss and triumph, and of who we choose to remember and leave behind on the path to success. (Goodreads)

My Review

The Instrumentalist absolutely lives up to the expectations generated by the blurb. Richly described, intriguing story. All the sights, sounds and smells of Venice. I think that the building constraints mean that very little has changed since 1704, so even a quick visit leaves you fully engaged with the location.

Our heroine, Anna Maria, is introduced to the world by her mother, and it isn’t pretty. We jump a few years at a time, with key episodes in Anna Maria’s life and career. Each time we see people we sort of recognise, and the tensions over how this girl genius can ever escape a dreadful fate and gain recognition in this man’s world. Sometimes I felt it was predictable, and at others I found the author had done just enough to keep my cynicism at bay.

Harriet Constable has done a great job with this story, drawn from scant records and brought to life. I think a few of the historical inventions, particularly the scene with Casanova (who had only just been born by then) were unnecessary and gave little to the plot. Maybe a need to over-egg the pudding? Not that Anna Maria and her friends were familiar with puddings.

A really enjoyable story, with life and sorrow and music, which will be loved by many, especially cellists!