Review of The Other Sister by Sarah Zettel

Author: Sarah Zettel

Release date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 380

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Sister-Sarah-Zettel/dp/1538760908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535469171&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+sister+by+sarah+zettel

“There’s a misconception that the woods are the destination in a fairy tale. The woods are just something to get through. Scary, yes. Necessary, of course. But it’s when you finally get to the castle that the real trouble starts.”

Geraldine Monroe is the bad sister. Reckless and troubled, she ran away shortly after the mysterious death of their mother 20 years ago. Marie, on the other hand, has always been the good sister. She is the obedient daughter and a loving mother to her son.

Now Geraldine has come home, for good it seems, and no one, not the aunts or uncles or cousins really knows why. The most suspicious of all is Martin Monroe, the father who rules the extended family and their small town with a toxic combination of money and cold-heartedness. But even he doesn't realize what the truth is: that the sisters have become allies in a plot to murder him.

Bound by blood and a need to right the past, Geraldine and Marie set their plan in motion. When old secrets and new fears clash, everyone is pushed to the breaking point . . . and the sisters will learn that they can't trust anyone, not even each other.

The Other Sister by Sarah Zettel is a quasi-fairy tale type murder mystery that features two sisters—one perceived as good, one bad. Geraldine Monroe is the bad sister, an irresponsible and troubled soul. While Marie Monroe is the good sister, always the obedient daughter and responsible mother, she stayed in the family home and cared for their father.

Zettel is the critically acclaimed author of more than 18 novels and many short stories, spanning the full range of genre fiction. Her debut novel, Reclamation (1996, Aspect Books), won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Her second release, Fool’s War (1997, Aspect Books), was a 1997 New York Times Notable Book.

Now 25 years later, Geraldine has apparently come home for good and no one knows why. The most suspicious of all is her father, a manipulative and controlling man who might have been responsible for his wife’s death and possibly others. When Geraldine and Marie set their plan into motion dark secrets begin to emerge that call into question their sisterly bonds and push everyone to the breaking point.

“Fairy tales are not big on second chances. The wicked sister never gets to turn and say, you know, that thing where I tried to kill you and marry your husband? That was a mistake. I have reconsidered my life choices. In the stories, redemption can only come from the hand of God, and God is a tight-fisted old bastard.”

In this often disturbing and distressing tale of family loyalty and deceit, Zettel does an adequate job of mixing humor and wit into an unsettling plotline that alternates between the past and present viewpoints of narrators Marie and Geraldine. Unfortunately these switches are often hard to follow and tend to confuse the story.

But if the reader is able to stick it out despite these pitfalls they will be rewarded with an excellent psychological thriller that’s filled with dark family secrets and plenty of intrigue.

Michael Thomas Barry is a staff reviewer for the New York Journal of Books and the author of eight nonfiction books.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on August 28, 2018 - https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/other-sister

Review of Chopin's Piano by Paul Kildea

Author: Paul Kildea

Publisher: WW Norton

Release Date: August 14, 2018

Pages: 288

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chopins-Piano-Search-Instrument-Transformed/dp/039365222X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534348407&sr=8-1&keywords=paul+kildea

In November 1838, composer Frédéric Chopin, French novelist George Sand (Amantine Lucile Dupin), and her two children sailed to the Spanish Island of Majorca to escape the cold damp Parisian winter. They settled in an abandoned monastery at Valldemossa in the mountains above Palma where Chopin finished what would eventually be recognized as one of the great and revolutionary works of musical Romanticism: his 24 Preludes. There was scarcely a decent piano on the island, so Chopin worked on a small pianino made by a local craftsman, which remained in its monastic chamber for the next 70 years.

Chopin’s Piano: In Search of the Instrument That Transformed Music by Paul Kildea traces the history of Chopin’s compositions through the instruments on which they were written, the musical historians who interpreted them, and the traditions they have come to represent. Kildea is a composer, pianist and the author of Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century (2013, Penguin Global). He was formerly the head of music at the Aldeburgh Festival and artistic director of the Wigmore Hall in London.

Chopin’s Piano begins and ends with the Majorcan pianino, and is organized in two parts, the first examines Chopin's 24 Preludes; the studies the critical responses to this composition, the composer himself and the history of the diminutive piano on which it was written.

Most of the second portion concentrates on Wanda Landowska, a legendary harpsichordist, who in 1913 rescued Chopin’s pianino from its monastic cell. After she fled France for the United States in late 1941, all of her possessions—including rare music manuscripts and beloved instruments—were confiscated by the Nazis. Only a small portion of her possessions managed to survive the war and were eventually returned. The pianino would attain an astonishing level of cultural symbolism during the Second World War as a representation of Chopin and his music of which the Nazi regime was determined to use for propaganda and ideological purposes.

“The looting never seemed to stop. In the summer months of 1943 two freight trains containing 120 upright and several grand pianos left France for Germany . . . Some of the most notorious instances of plunder and redistribution of instruments . . . were carried out on behalf of the Reich’s Bruckner-Orchester, which was dreamed up by Hitler . . .”

While it is assumed that most readers are aware that the Nazi’s looted art, what isn’t as well known is the theft of other cultural symbols such as musical instruments. Kildea does an excellent job of tracing and attempting to solve the mysteries of what happened to one of these iconic symbols.

The author’s enthusiasm for the subject is very apparent and he expertly and effortlessly illustrates how Landowska’s trials and tribulations relates to Chopin’s, a saga which redefined portions of the cultural and political history of mid-20th century. Captivating and intriguing, Chopin’s Piano will most certainly entertain both novice and hardcore music historians.

Review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on August 13, 2018 - https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/chopins-piano