The Instrumentalist by Hannah Constable, Book Review
“The colours begin to layer until a landscape forms- green mountains and purple flowers, orange sunlight, bursts of white.” (17, Constable)
Welcome to the November blog. November has that cosy marshmallow toasting, deep autumn feel. What better on the darker nights than to recommend a book to read? If I had to sum up this book in three words, it would be, magnificently magically marvellous.
An alliteration has a great ability, to express the delight the book brings. I will be cautious to not drop any spoilers, as this is still a new book to many. I literally did judge the book by its cover- it is a piece of artwork! Then when I bought it, I thought I would read a chapter. I do not get much spare time to read for fun, with doing my English degree and having a mountain of reading. I read this book in three days, it was that good.
So, you must be thinking what makes it so good? The story is based on the real history of a girls’ charity school in the late 1600s/ early 1700s and set in Venice. Anna Maria della Pietà is left at the school by her mother, like many other babies, when mothers cannot support their baby. The school gives the girls shelter, food and music lessons. They have the chance to become accomplished instrumentalists, and join the exclusive school orchestra for a better life.
Anna Maria has passion and I love the way she can see the colours of the musical notes. The quote I have chosen, beautifully portrays how Constable paints music like a visual artwork. The “purple flowers, orange sunlight” (17, Constable), whisk up lovely images of nature and the music is seen in the same magic way. Anna Maria’s teacher is Antonio Vivaldi- yes that one. He is becoming a well-known composer and teaches at the school. Vivaldi and Anna Maria slowly become a great duo in private, but she feels he is keen to take all credit at public concerts. This tension boils up as the story progresses, and we see the female skill and greatness ever more restricted. The wider country and world are seeing Anna Maria’s sparkling violin excellency, but Vivaldi tries to hold her back.
Constable also describes a Venice filled with music and merchants. Another lovely composed (pun intended!) quote is, “out here, at street level, the colours are overwhelming. Music pours from the windows, rolls off the boats, flows from the mouth of every passing worker. She (Anna Maria- my note) feels as if she could leap into the air, clutch the notes in her hands” (99, Constable). The music is described like the air, all encompassing and the way it “pours” and “flows”, describes its influence on everyone. I love the way Anna Maria could “clutch the notes” and feel the delight the bring. Anna Maria has a very vivid and real way of experiencing and seeing the music.
The story is so well written, it feels you’re on a journey you want to stay on from start to finish. I absolutely loved this book, and highly recommend getting it for the dark evenings ahead.
May Constable write more beautiful page turners. Next month, I will look at Christmas novels from both famous historical writers like Dickens and modern reads.
Works Cited-
- Constable, Harriet. The Instrumentalist. 1st Bloomsbury Publishing. 2024.
- Photos- Amazon. “amazon.co.uk/Instrumentalist”. Date Accessed- 5th November 2024. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Instrumentalist-fans-MINIATURIST-MARRIAGE-PORTRAIT/dp/1526672561