Giddy sugarplum or calculating bitch? Pretty Konstanze aroused strong feelings among her contemporaries. Her in-law's loathed her. Mozart's friends, more than forty years after his death, remained eager to gossip about her "failures" as wife to the world's first superstar.
Maturing from child, to wife, to hard-headed widow, Konstanze would pay Mozart's debts, provide for their children, and relentlessly market and mythologize her brilliant husband.
Mozart's letters attest to his affection for Konstanze as well as to their powerful sexual bond. Nevertheless, prominent among the many mysteries surrounding the composer's untimely death: why did his much beloved Konstanze never mark his grave?
If you gobbled up Confessions of a Courtesan by Deborah Hale, you will love Mozart’s Wife by Juliet Waldron
Reviews
This is a multi-faceted novel which brilliantly joins the nomenclature of romantic and historical fiction. I would recommend this novel to lovers of music, lovers of history, and just plain lovers. --Knowbetter.com
Juliet Waldron brings Konstanze and her wayward genius of a spouse to vivid life. She avoids the pitfall of the biographical novelist by refusing to make either of them the villain, and her insights into character are extraordinary. --Liz Burton, The Blue Iris Journal
Mozart's Wife is a story of love, jealousy, grief and most importantly--forgiveness. ...Fastpaced; Ms. Waldron has exquisite, flowing prose. .. a must read... --Kim Murphy, Sime-Gen
Waldron's writing is humorous, erotic, and fluid. Her beautiful use of words reveals the delicate, volatile intimacy inherent in marriage. In the antagonist, Waldron characterizes a woman's quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) struggle to remain the dutiful wife while also protecting her children and herself from her husband's self-destructive behavior. Mozart's Wife is a consuming piece that reminds us that all humans, regardless of talent or skill, are within the boundaries of fault and outside the lines of perfection. I highly recommend this wonderful book. --Melissa Levine,
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