The Glass Harmonica | ||||||||
Louise Marley | ||||||||
Ace Books, 334 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Victoria Strauss
The book tells two stories, widely separated chronologically but
linked by music. Eilish Eam is an orphan in eighteenth century
London who earns a meager living on the street, playing tunes on a
set of water-filled wine glasses. One day she's discovered by Ben
Franklin, who is in the process of developing the glass harmonica
and needs someone to play it. Franklin takes Eilish into his home;
there she experiences security and happiness for the first time, as
well as the joy of fulfilling her musical gift. Sometimes, as she
plays, she's visited by a fey sense of presence, as if a young girl
like herself were standing at her shoulder.
In a near-future Seattle, Erin Rushton is the world's foremost
virtuosa of the glass harmonica. Her playing, together with the
ambitious musical compositions of her wheelchair-bound twin brother
Charlie, have helped revive the popularity of this ancient
instrument. Erin has begun having strange, ghostly visions of a
girl in old-fashioned clothing, which come to her only while she
plays. Though she doesn't believe in the so-called curse of the
glass harmonica, she can't help wondering if these visions have
something to do with the music -- if indeed her instrument is
deranging her nerves and driving her mad. But Charlie thinks
otherwise, as does Gene Berrick, the doctor whose experimental
music-based therapy may help Charlie walk again. They believe Erin
shouldn't reject her visions, but follow them, and see where they
lead her.
Louise Marley, whose last book was the darkly dystopian The
Terrorists of Irustan, turns her hand to something very
different here, blending history, fantasy, and science fiction into
a dreamy tale of self-discovery and fulfillment. The two
storylines are relatively simple, propelled more by mood and their
sympathetic, appealing characters than by plot. In fact there's a
distinctly young adult feel to this novel. Erin, who is twenty-two, doesn't seem much older than Eilish, who is fourteen. And the
eighteenth century sections, with their somewhat self-conscious
inclusion of various historical figures and conscientiously
present-day-correct treatment of the issue of slavery, read more
like something I'd expect to find published by Greenwillow than by
Ace.
Marley handles the time-shifting deftly, moving fluidly between
past and future, and her sensitive depiction of Eilish's and Erin's
shared passion for the glass harmonica makes a connection between
their stories that goes beyond the obvious device of their visions
of one another. Setting is also well-realized, especially in the
twenty-first century sections, which provide intriguing details of
a future where cities have been sanitized by herding the poor and
homeless into giant tent encampments, located well out of sight of
the restored, retro-themed neighborhoods. And the musical details,
which possess the authority of Marley's own musical experience, add
interest. Readers expecting the complexity of Marley's last outing
may be disappointed by The Glass Harmonica, but those
looking for a light, easy fantasy-cum-history will enjoy what they
find here.
Victoria Strauss is a novelist, and a lifelong reader of fantasy and science fiction. Her most recent fantasy novel The Garden of the Stone is currently available from HarperCollins EOS. For details, visit her website. |
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