Book Review – The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable @BloomsburyBooks

About the Book

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.

Format: Hardcover (336 pages) Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 15th August 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Anna Maria della Pietà (all the orphan girls are given the surname della Pietà) has an innate talent for music. She is determined to become a member of the Ospedale’s famous orchestra – an intensely competitive environment – to become first violinist of the orchestra and, eventually, be acclaimed maestro. The alternative is either marriage when she reaches child-bearing age or a life of drudgery. For Anna Maria music is everything and nothing will stand in her way, not even friendships, something she comes to regret when it’s too late.

‘The girl had notes before she had words, and those notes have always had colours’. Anna Maria experiences musical notes and melodies in the form of colours. Even the sounds of everyday life in early 18th century Venice – the songs of gondoliers, the cries of street traders, the chiming of church bells – are a kaleidoscopic symphony. ‘Tones and hues float up, high above the city, hanging like notes on a stave, matching the sounds below.’

To borrow a phrase from art, there’s a strong element of chiaroscuro (the use of light and dark elements) in the story. So we have the contrast between the glittering palazzos of the rich and the dank alleyways housing brothels where young people, even children, are forced to sell themselves for a few denari. Even within the Ospedale della Pietà there’s a contrast between the privileges given to the girls in the orchestra – better food, better clothing – and the privations experienced by the other orphans. And whilst frequently reminded they are the offspring of ‘monsters’ and fortunate not to have been drowned at birth, the Ospedale is reliant on their musical talents for donations from wealthy patrons.

And then there’s Antonio Vivaldi, newly arrived as music tutor at Ospedale della Pietà. On the plus side, he’s a virtuoso violinist, a talented composer and an inspirational teacher who is instrumental (sorry!) in facilitating Anna’s membership of the orchestra and acquisition of her own custom-made violin. But he’s also egotistical, demanding that Anna’s early attempts at composition match his own style, and becoming vengeful when her talent threatens to outshine his own. And, as the historical evidence shows, he’s not averse to taking credit for the work of others – the author has Anna give him an idea about a composition based on the seasons – or of cultivating unsavoury relationships with young pupils.

Told in lush prose, Anna Maria’s story is one of ambition and an unwavering determination to succeed, but also the personal cost that comes with it.

I received a review copy courtesy of Bllomsbury via NetGalley.

In three words: Fascinating, immersive, passionate
Try something similar: A Light of Her Own by Carrie Callaghan

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About the Author

Harriet Constable is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker living in London. Her work has been featured by the New York Times, the Economist, and the BBC, and she is a grantee of the Pulitzer Center. Raised in a musical family, The Instrumentalist is her first novel. It has been selected as one of the Top 10 Debuts of 2024 by the Guardian. (Photo: Goodreads author page)

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