Maria

Moran’s (Mata Hari’s Last Dance) crowd-pleasing new historical novel posits the question—what did the real-life Maria von Trapp think of the depiction of her family in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music? In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is writing lyrics for a musical based on Maria’s life, but Maria is not a fan. Hoping to give Hammerstein a piece of her mind, Maria instead encounters his assistant Fran, who takes down the details of Maria’s remarkable life. Narrator Eileen Stevens breathes life into Fran, capturing her no-nonsense manner and fascination with Maria’s story. Natasha Soudek narrates Maria’s first-person account in a slightly husky voice, drawing on her own German and Austrian parentage to supply spot-on accents. Fans of dual timelines should enjoy how Moran juxtaposes the events of the autumn of 1959 with several decades’ worth of Maria’s backstory, a history that is far less sugary than the version portrayed in the musical. The author’s note illuminates Moran’s interest in the story and provides additional information about the von Trapp children.