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The Bells

by Richard Harvell (Goodreads Author)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 1,716 ratings · 475 reviews

I grew up as the son of a man who could not possibly have been my father. Though there was never any doubt that my seed had come from another man, Moses Froben, Lo Svizzero, called me “son.” And I called him “father.” On the rare occasions when someone dared to ask for clarification, he simply laughed as though the questioner were obtuse. “Of course he’s not my son!” he wo...more I grew up as the son of a man who could not possibly have been my father. Though there was never any doubt that my seed had come from another man, Moses Froben, Lo Svizzero, called me “son.” And I called him “father.” On the rare occasions when someone dared to ask for clarification, he simply laughed as though the questioner were obtuse. “Of course he’s not my son!” he would say. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

But whenever I myself gained the courage to ask him further of our past, he just looked sadly at me. “Please, Nicolai,” he would say after a moment, as though we had made a pact I had forgotten. With time, I came to understand I would never know the secrets of my birth, for my father was the only one who knew these secrets, and he would take them to his grave.

The celebrated opera singer Lo Svizzero was born in a belfry high in the Swiss Alps where his mother served as the keeper of the loudest and most beautiful bells in the land. Shaped by the bells’ glorious music, as a boy he possessed an extraordinary gift for sound. But when his preternatural hearing was discovered—along with its power to expose the sins of the church—young Moses Froben was cast out of his village with only his ears to guide him in a world fraught with danger.

Rescued from certain death by two traveling monks, he finds refuge at the vast and powerful Abbey of St. Gall. There, his ears lead him through the ancient stone hallways and past the monks’ cells into the choir, where he aches to join the singers in their strange and enchanting song. Suddenly Moses knows his true gift, his purpose. Like his mother’s bells, he rings with sound and soon, he becomes the protégé of the Abbey’s brilliant yet repulsive choirmaster, Ulrich.

But it is this gift that will cause Moses’ greatest misfortune: determined to preserve his brilliant pupil’s voice, Ulrich has Moses castrated. Now a young man, he will forever sing with the exquisite voice of an angel—a musico—yet castration is an abomination in the Swiss Confederation, and so he must hide his shameful condition from his friends and even from the girl he has come to love. When his saviors are exiled and his beloved leaves St. Gall for an arranged marriage in Vienna, he decides he can deny the truth no longer and he follows her—to sumptuous Vienna, to the former monks who saved his life, to an apprenticeship at one of Europe’s greatest theaters, and to the premiere of one of history’s most beloved operas.

In this confessional letter to his son, Moses recounts how his gift for sound led him on an astonishing journey to Europe’s celebrated opera houses and reveals the secret that has long shadowed his fame: How did Moses Froben, world renowned musico, come to raise a son who by all rights he never could have sired?

Like the voice of Lo Svizzero, The Bells is a sublime debut novel that rings with passion, courage, and beauty.(less)

Hardcover, 374 pages

Published September 14th 2010 by Crown (first published January 1st 2010)

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Nov 28, 2010 JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, own, received_for_review, 4_stars, author_american, fiction, gothic, historical_fiction, read_in_2010, reviewed, setting_austria, setting_switzerland, loaned

Moses Froben, an opera singer of world-renown, raised a son who could not possibly have been his own. When his son asked how they had come to be together, Moses would studiously avoid the question. On Moses's death, however, his son found a memoir that told of Moses's humble beginnings and how father and son found each other.

The side of me that loves dark, convoluted, Gothic stories absolutely loved this book! A mother widely believed to be mad, an evil father, life with monks, and love against...more Moses Froben, an opera singer of world-renown, raised a son who could not possibly have been his own. When his son asked how they had come to be together, Moses would studiously avoid the question. On Moses's death, however, his son found a memoir that told of Moses's humble beginnings and how father and son found each other.

The side of me that loves dark, convoluted, Gothic stories absolutely loved this book! A mother widely believed to be mad, an evil father, life with monks, and love against all odds just add up to the perfect read when I am in the right mood. And I was in the right mood for this one.

Gothic doesn't feel like exactly the right word to describe this book, but melodramatic has a negative connotation, at least to me, so I'm going to stick with Gothic.

Moses is a sensitive soul, and I found myself wanting to protect him in his childhood years. As he grew up and started to go after what he wanted, I was firmly on his side, cheering him on through everything.

I won't get into the supporting characters too much for fear of giving something away, but I even loved and loathed them as I was supposed to. I will give you this quote about a bookish monk*: "And sure enough, the next Thursday, when Nicolai had fetched me from rehearsal and scrubbed my face and combed my hair, there stood Remus, dressed in hat and cloak and carrying a satchel full of books as though we would be traveling for many days, as if running out of books were tantamount to running out of air." Who among us can't relate to that? And they were only going to be away for a couple of hours!

Moses' descriptions of sounds and music were a feast for all the senses. "Guadagni waved his hands as he sang, his long fingers describing ebbs and swells just as his voice did. In its delicate moments, he held me rigid as I strained to hear, and then, in its massive moments, I felt as if I might collapse under the force of his voice's brilliance. Guadagni gazed toward a corner of the room, and I saw in his eyes that there was his Eurydice, soon to be his again. Find her! the music said to me. Find her! It swept away any fear that lingered in the shadows of my soul. Warm tears stained my now-clean face."*

But mostly this story is about love. Motherly love, fatherly love, passionate love--love in all its forms. While I would never describe myself as being a fan of romances, I am a sucker for stories with such pure love in them.

If you're in the mood for a Gothic novel with a big voice, pick this one up. I think you'll love it.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review.

*I read an ARC, so this quote might have changed or been removed from the final edition.(less)

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Jan 09, 2012 Almeta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: home-alone, grsauthorization, reviewed, my-best

The marketing comparison of The Bells to Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is misleading and appropriate at the same time.

The Bells, like Perfume, is an adventure story, but of a far different nature. The characters that helped or hindered the hero’s progress were fun to get to know. I feel that books could be produced about their adventures as well. Like what Anne Rice did with all of the vampire characters.

Speaking of Anne Rice; the comparison should have paralleled Cry to Heaven.

The Bells did...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Kate Z rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-i-read-in-2011

I really enjoyed this book, start to finish. Part character drama, part love story, part historical fiction, this is the story of Moses Froben, a "castrato" or "musico".

One review on the front cover says that this book is a "story to tickle the senses as much as the mind" and I agree with that. I loved the novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and how the protagonist experienced the world through her sense of taste. This novel was similar in the way that Moses interacts with the world via s...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Marialyce rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: february-2011, books-i-especially-loved-and-would

Absolutely fantastic! The ending gave me chills. This was a little unknown book to me but one that left me in awe. It was written about an 18th century opera singer and the struggles he went through in his life. From his impoverished beginnings where he learned the love and feel for his mother's bells, to the opera house where he became a great virtuoso, the reader becomes involved with his life, his friends, his love, and his ability to sing like no other.

The writing made the character ever so...more

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Dec 07, 2011 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I almost passed this book by thinking I had no desire to read about opera but decided to give it a try based on the recommendations by Random House's library marketing reps.

This historical novel set in the 1700s about "musicos" (also known as castratos and countertenors) during the birth of opera is definitely on my best of 2011 list. The scope and historical elements were fabulous and the music was sublime, but there are a few heartbreaking moments of brutality and sadness. Anyone wanting a swe...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Marlene rated it 2 of 5 stars

Very seldom, if ever, have I rated a book that I closed and didn't finish reading. But there were parts in the very first part of this book that enchanted me and the writing was good. Then it got horrifying and I was unable to finish. Am I too old or have my years made me too sensitive to a young boy being forcibly castrated and being totally unaware of what was happening to him by prideful and power hungry church leaders. Do I hate the look into the lives of homosexual or bi-sexual monks who ra...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Madame X rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The early chapters of THE BELLS, when Moses is a child who lives with his mother in a tiny town deep in the Swiss Alps, are gorgeous and savage - as here: "It is early summer, and the Alps are so verdant that one envies the cows their grasses, and would like to stoop down beside them and feast until green drool dribbles down one's chin." And the early events of the novel are harrowing, too - Moses must listen while his deaf and mute mother is raped by the local priest - his father - and, because...more The early chapters of THE BELLS, when Moses is a child who lives with his mother in a tiny town deep in the Swiss Alps, are gorgeous and savage - as here: "It is early summer, and the Alps are so verdant that one envies the cows their grasses, and would like to stoop down beside them and feast until green drool dribbles down one's chin." And the early events of the novel are harrowing, too - Moses must listen while his deaf and mute mother is raped by the local priest - his father - and, because she cannot speak, she cannot tell anyone what has been done to her. When he is old enough to talk, the priest recognizes how dangerous Moses' words would be, and tries to drown him in a raging river.

But Moses is plucked from the river by a pair of kindly monks, one of whom immediately takes a solemn vow to protect Moses for the rest of his life. And this more or less sets the pattern for the remainder of the book: whenever events get too difficult, an unbelievable deus ex machina appears to solve everything. When the Abbot wants to send Moses to the nearest orphanage, a supremely talented choir conductor appears out of nowhere, having recognized Moses' musical talent from a bit of harmonic humming, and demands that Moses be his pupil. When Moses is finally cast out of the monastery, full grown and perfectly trained, he wanders homeless to Vienna. Dirty, dressed in rags, he is lost - until one of the city's leading musicians pulls Moses into his carriage, having mistaken him for another, famous singer, tells him his filth is an excellent disguise, and immediately takes him to the singer's home, where the composer Gluck is waiting, getting ready to stage his first-ever production of Orpheus and Eurydice. So, with only a few hiccups, Moses finds himself well fed, well dressed, and in the company of exactly the right people.

THE BELLS is structured in a way that echoes Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. Moses is Orpheus, and his Eurydice is a woman far beyond his reach: Amelia, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Their love takes center stage in the book while Moses is growing up at the monastery. They love in secret, because they are so far apart in social status, but Amelia's heart is pure. However, meddling relatives want her to get married, and they make her believe that Moses has died to convince her to accept a Viennese count. This marriage is Amelia's descent into hell, from which Moses must rescue her. However, just as Orpheus cannot save Eurydice, so Moses cannot save Amelia: by the time he reaches her, she is pregnant with her husband's child, and soon dies in childbirth.

I loved THE BELLS when I started reading, but not at the end. The author has amazing talent, but the deus ex machina plot points leech tension from the story. It's hard to be afraid for Moses when it's obvious that, even if things seem really horrible, the perfect solution will arrive in a page or two. At first, the book grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let me go; it was thrilling. But by the end, and especially once it was clear that the novel was echoing the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, events were easy to predict and felt inevitable rather than exciting. (less)

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Aug 11, 2012 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I stumbled across this book at a used book store - never having heard of it or the author before, but had a review on the cover by another favourite author. So, I picked it up. It is a gem! I loved it.

It is the story of Moses Froben who was born to a woman who was deaf and mute, having been raped repeatedly by a priest, with no means of fighting back. She was the bell ringer of a beautiful church, high in the Swiss Alps. After her unfortunate death at the hands of this evil man, Moses was rescu...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Everybookhasasoul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010, for-review, kindle

I really enjoyed this book and it was unlike any historical fiction that I have ever read before. The setting of this book has been chosen so well that the book speaks to you and I can really see myself standing there watching what is happening through the characters eyes.

I read this book in one sitting as I become so engrossed by it I just had to finish it to find out what was going to happen in the end. The setting and characters have been chosen so well that the book speaks to you as you are...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Mrose46 rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Bells is an almost magical story about a boy who, although he is born of a deaf mute mother, is ironically gifted with the ability to hear and distinguish the slightest and infinite variety of sounds heard in everything from the greatest operatic mass sung in Latin, to the sound of a metal key rubbing against the lock of a bedroom door, to the slightest breath from a baby’s lungs. Born into poverty as the bastard child of a woman who lived off of the charity of the local townspeople and the...more The Bells is an almost magical story about a boy who, although he is born of a deaf mute mother, is ironically gifted with the ability to hear and distinguish the slightest and infinite variety of sounds heard in everything from the greatest operatic mass sung in Latin, to the sound of a metal key rubbing against the lock of a bedroom door, to the slightest breath from a baby’s lungs. Born into poverty as the bastard child of a woman who lived off of the charity of the local townspeople and the dreaded desires of the lustful village priest, Moses Froben became immune to the deafness that plagued all those who lived or worked in close proximity to what were considered at the time “the Loudest Bells on Earth,” in the Uri Valley of Switzerland. Instead of going deaf from hearing the bells rung by his waifish mother every day as she danced beneath the bells, pulling and hanging from the ropes, he developed the ability to distinguish every single individual note and tone contained in those titanic beloved and also feared daily peals.

The story of Moses’ six decade transformation from the poor, ragged son of poverty into one of the world’s greatest stars of opera is one that takes him from the village in Switzerland where he was born, to a monastery where he is adopted and rescued from the swirling currents of a river, and on to the protection of the maestros of the music worlds of Vienna and Venice. Along the way, the sheltered Moses is helped by a pair of atypical monks, Remus and Nicolai, whose belief in the power of love, knowledge, beauty and the ordinary pleasures of life is so extreme as to be considered heretical in the traditional world of monastic life.

For those who are not well versed in the world of 18th century European aria, reading the book is an eye-opening tool into certain practices and ways of life of the era. For example, the reader works alongside the dwarf Tasso under the stage of the Burgtheater in Vienna as he deftly draws pulleys that produce changes in backdrops and props on the stage for the grand operas. The reader also learns about the reverence and adoration for the musicians of the time that is such a force that it becomes the motivation and vehicle for the castration of young men whose voices show promise and who will forever after become known as “castrati” or “el musico,” a practice that is horrifying and incomprehensible to the modern reader, forever depriving the “castrati” of the chance for a complete physical and emotional love relationship for the rest of his life. Or perhaps not? What kind of power would be strong enough to restore the wholeness that had been taken away from a man?

One of the underlying themes of the story is that of the power of love as epitomized in the love that existed in the mythic story of Orpheus and Eurydice. According to Greek myth, Orpheus’ love for Eurydice was so strong that he was allowed to travel into the bowels of hell to retrieve Eurydice under one condition; i.e., that he not look upon her face until they were safely out of the ghastly conditions in hell.

The first appearance of the Gluck opera Orpheus in Vienna in 1762 is the setting for the culminating scenes in the book which are every bit as fast paced as any contemporary page turner book. The reader is enthralled as Moses and his band of misfits carry out a plan to kidnap his one true love from the cold loveless noble family where she has been sequestered. After sharing in the story of a lifetime of humiliation, cruelty and deprivation, and with a background of all the passion of the aria sung by Orpheus and the ever more powerful Pummerin bells of the Stephansdom in Vienna, the reader cheers Moses’ determination and daring as he seeks to finally be allowed the experience of pure, unselfish love. Does this Orpheus successfully save his Eurydice? Read the novel and see.

The Bells is the first novel of writer Richard Harvell who based the story on a significant body of research of the geography and events of 18th century Switzerland and Austria.
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Dec 14, 2011 Ben Zajdel rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Bells is the story of Moses Froben, born in a remote Swiss village to a deaf-mute. By circumstance and tragedy, Moses ends up in an abbey and is raised by monks. It isn't long until his magnificent singing voice is recognized, and he is given a prized spot in the church choir. He is soon befriended by a young girl, Amalia, whose mother is dying.

Though his life is not ideal, Moses cherishes his friendship with Amalia, and the seeds of romance are established. But tragedy strikes again when,...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Diana rated it 2 of 5 stars

The story follows the life of Moses Froben from boyhood to fame as an opera singer during the 1700's. He is born in a belfry in Sitzerland where his deaf mother is the keeper of the bells. When it is discovered he is not deaf and can proclaim the sins of the local church, he is ousted from the village. Later, he is rescued from drowning in a river and taken to live in an abbey. The choirmaster discovers his singing talent and in order to preserve it, he has Moses forcibly castrated. According to...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“O Canto do Anjo, a história de um castrato” decorre em 1727 e tem o seu início na Suíça. Esta é uma história que apela de forma especial a um dos nossos sentidos – a audição. Aqui, os sons fazem nascer, crescer, viver, ansiar, vingar, entorpecer e renascer…
Este é um relato da vida do grande músico Moses Froben. Um homem que não é um homem, mas que é um anjo. Um ser possuidor de uma voz límpida e cristalina. Moses, fora um menino criado num campanário pela sua mãe, acostumado à miséria e à miser...more “O Canto do Anjo, a história de um castrato” decorre em 1727 e tem o seu início na Suíça. Esta é uma história que apela de forma especial a um dos nossos sentidos – a audição. Aqui, os sons fazem nascer, crescer, viver, ansiar, vingar, entorpecer e renascer…
Este é um relato da vida do grande músico Moses Froben. Um homem que não é um homem, mas que é um anjo. Um ser possuidor de uma voz límpida e cristalina. Moses, fora um menino criado num campanário pela sua mãe, acostumado à miséria e à misericórdia da população, assim como à sua indiferença e maldade. Afastados da população mãe e filho não comunicavam com ninguém, nem tão pouco articulavam palavras um com o outro. Os sinos tocados pela sua mãe no campanário, eram a sua vida, a sua energia e força de viver. Era assim que trocavam pensamentos – através do som daquele potente objecto. Depois de ser lançado ao rio, pelo seu pai, Moses é salvo por dois frades, Rémus e Nicolai que se dirigiam à Abadia de São Galo e é lá que todo o seu destino é traçado.
Como não pode permanecer à guarda de Nicolai, o pequeno Froben é integrado no coro da Abadia. A sua bela voz encanta o seu professor de forma a que este resolve preservá-la para sempre… Ulrich, resolve transformar Moses num castrato. Assim, Moses Froben passa a ser um homem que não é homem, para ser um anjo, um músico.

Importa aqui referir o que é um castrato:
Castrato (plural castrati) é um cantor masculino cuja extensão vocal corresponde em pleno à das vozes femininas, seja de soprano, mezzo-soprano, ou contralto. Esta faculdade numa voz masculina só é verificável na sequência de uma operação de corte dos canais provenientes dos testículos, ou então por um problema endocrinológico que impeça a maturidade sexual. Consequentemente, a chamada "mudança de voz" não ocorre.
A castração antes da puberdade (ou na sua fase inicial) impede então a libertação para a corrente sanguínea das hormonas sexuais produzidas pelos testículos, as quais provocariam o crescimento normal da laringe masculina (para o dobro do comprimento) entre outras características sexuais secundárias, como o crescimento da barba.
Quando o jovem castrato chega à idade adulta, o seu corpo desenvolve-se, nomeadamente em termos de capacidade pulmonar e força muscular, mas a sua laringe não. A sua voz adquire assim uma tessitura única, com um poder e uma flexibilidade muito diferentes, tanto da voz da mulher adulta, como da voz mais aguda do homem não castrado (contratenor). Por outro lado, a maturidade e a crescente experiência musical do castrato tornavam a sua voz marcadamente diferente da de um jovem.
O termo castrato designa não só o cantor mas também o próprio registo da sua voz.* (retirado da Wikipédia)
Depois de algum tempo após a mutilação e quando se apaixona, Moses começa a sentir-se um ser incompleto, não se pode unir à sua amada como se ambos fossem um só. Não lhe pode dar filhos… Primeiro retrai-se, depois enche-se de coragem e vai em busca do seu amor para Viena de Áustria. E neste ponto, há que dar os parabéns ao autor por tudo o que nos descreve…as paisagens, os monumentos, os sons… o seu poder de escrita é tão grande que não é só Moses que vai para Viena de Áustria, nós leitores também o acompanhamos pelo Danúbio, percorremos Michaelerplatz, a Catedral Stephansdom as hospedarias de Sittelberg e muito mais…

Os sons caminham com o nosso personagem como parte integrante do seu corpo, algo do qual ele não se pode dissociar e é com a ajuda dos sons que encontra a amada que julgara perdidda.
Moses entende que tem uma segunda oportunidade tal como Orfeu e Eurídice e assim, cantando em pleno palco de Staudach fazendo-se passar pelo castrato Gaetano Guadagni, recupera a sua amada com a ajuda de Nicolai e Rémus.
.
Na contra capa deste livro há a seguinte frase “O Canto do Anjo está para o ouvido como o Perfume para o Olfacto. Um romance que apela aos sentidos e estimula a mente” Na minha opinião, esta obra poderá ser comparada com o perfume de Patrick Süskind do ponto de vista em que há um apelo aos sentidos, contudo não poderá ser comparada na sua essência. O personagem de “O Perfume” busca o seu “ser”, é uma busca interior nunca concretizada. Aqui, “No Canto do Anjo”, Moses busca algo diferente, apesar de não se sentir um homem completo, ele tem lugar na sociedade, onde é reconhecido e apreciado.
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“O Perfume” e “O Canto do Anjo” são duas obras excelentes, porém diferentes, cada uma com a sua particularidade que a torna única. Esta foi uma obra que me maravilhou, pela sua estória, pelos lugares visitados, pelos sentimentos despertados…
Aconselho!

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Jun 26, 2011 Bobby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, music, musical-theater

It’s Cry to Heaven meets Perfume.

The author writes gorgeous, elegant prose and knows how to keep the reader continuously interested. The title made me think at first of Edgar Allan Poe, and the story indeed includes several events as grotesque and horrifying as anything in Poe, although the style is more sedate and much less baroque, which I suppose is appropriate for a musical tale set during the neoclassical period.

The main character is prodigiously talented and suffers terribly throughout th...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lori by: Books on the Nightstand

Shelves: historical-fiction, read-in-2010, travel-the-world, all-time-favorites

This was another wonderful recommendation from Books on the Nightstand. I'll not go into much detail laying out the general storyline because you can read that elsewhere and it just doesn't adequately prepare you for what an amazing jewel this book is. The description from the Goodreads summary reveals that the main character, "was born in a belfry high in the Swiss Alps where his mother served as the keeper of the loudest and most beautiful bells in the land. Shaped by the bells’ glorious music...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Keilani Ludlow rated it 1 of 5 stars

Spoilers -I'm probably going to get chewed out for my moral views for this review but -
Ugh. The underlying story is interesting. The son of a deaf/mute woman from a small hill town has through the course of events, developed or maybe even been born with the ability to hear sound very differently, hear little details, great distance, how bits and pieces of sound go together. His description of what he hears is in great color and detail. It could be beautiful but the surrounding of the story is co...more

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Feb 19, 2011 Kay Wright rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Switzerland in the late 1700's, a child is born to a deaf outcast fathered by the local priest who tries to kill the boy when he learns he is not deaf and can tell his story. Thrown into a raging river, the six year old is rescued by two priests and taken to their abby where he is sheltered because he can sing. The abby still exists and throughout the book are references to real people,real places and real customs. Although castration to preserve a boy's voice was still common in Italy, in Sw...more

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Jan 24, 2011 Phillip rated it 3 of 5 stars

Had to opine on this one because there is tragedy and there is gratuitous cruelty. Harvell has burdened us with the latter. Please God, don't let me be resurrected in a tragedy so imagined. I could not endure it. To be sure, I get tragedy and I comprehend Orpheus as one of the greatest, but reading this book was a torture to my very soul. I have been irreparably harmed.

Some pain need not be explored in such excruciating detail... some ugliness in the world, while we should be aware of it and ev...more

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Dec 27, 2010 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I heard about this book on a Goodreads newsletter. It is the author's first novel. The book is historical fiction, which I love, but I thought it was only about the opera in 1750, so I was hesitant to read it (because I have no interest in the opera) but I decided it wouldn't hurt to expand my horizons, so I checked it out of the library. I was so pleasantly surprised.

Actually, it is really about an opera singer, Moses Froben, not the opera per se. The story follows Moses from his early life bo...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Jeannie Mancini rated it 5 of 5 stars

An Operatic Masterpiece

In a village hidden high atop a mountain in the Swiss Alps, a baby boy is born to the world of music by a mute mother who rings the town church bells. Born in the belfry to the ringing of these bells, this young boy learns his mother was raped by the parish priest; the very man who will throw this innocent boy, his bastard son, off a bridge above a raging river to wipe his crime from existence.

Rescued and pulled from the waters below, the young boy is found by the waters...more
An Operatic Masterpiece

In a village hidden high atop a mountain in the Swiss Alps, a baby boy is born to the world of music by a mute mother who rings the town church bells. Born in the belfry to the ringing of these bells, this young boy learns his mother was raped by the parish priest; the very man who will throw this innocent boy, his bastard son, off a bridge above a raging river to wipe his crime from existence.

Rescued and pulled from the waters below, the young boy is found by the waters edge amongst the reeds by two traveling monks who then christen him Moses. Bringing him back to their abbey as a foundling, Moses Froben spends the next ten years as a novice monk who is the bane of the abbot's existence, yet the beloved adopted son of Remus and Nicolai, the monks that saved his life and harbor a secret of their own.

Soon after his arrival to the abbey, Moses' keen hearing and ability to sing like an angel, catches the eye of the abbey's choir master who has other plans for this child protégé. Kidnapped one night as he lay sleeping, Moses is taken to the dungeons below the church and is horribly castrated for the purpose of becoming one of Switzerland's finest musicos, a soprano opera singer that will bring fame and fortune to those that train this heavenly voice to grace the grandest stages of Europe. Hiding his secret and shame from Nicolai and Remus, Moses has no choice but to follow the path his benefactors have laid out for him. Until one day when his fate changes paths and has him performing in a grand house for a dying mistress. Entrenched in this home for years to come, singing deathbed arias, Moses falls in love with the lady's daughter Amalia who becomes both his playmate and secret love.

When Nicolai and Remus learn of Moses' castration, and when Amalia's stern aunt flushes out their love affair, the story then unravels a tale of passion, pain, love and loss, followed by double acts of revenge that are enacted as tragic plays. Nicolai vows to avenge the deed that crippled Moses' life, and Moses himself hatches a plan to steal away his lady love!

This intricately crafted literary song of love is masterfully penned with such unbelievable beauty, readers will be easily enraptured and captivated by this magical fairytale of music. As Moses’ lungs release songs from his heart, as his heart shatters and breaks when time stands still, he undergoes many transitions of emotions that will rent the hearts of readers in two, and have their breath stopped in midair as they read each passage slowly, devouring every word hinged on love and pain until the grand finale of sacrifice and redemption comes full circle. But this is not just a story of love and loss. The author's writing resonates off each page with a glass shattering voice that blends humorous antics, endearing characters, action and adventure, mystery, romance, music and more.

Fantastico! Magnifico! Standing ovation needed for this brilliant debut from a new author that will surely be one to watch! This kind of literary talent will bring Harvell many awards and to the top of most noted best-seller lists. Bravo I say!
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Oct 27, 2010 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Nicoloi, the narrator of the introduction to this story is the son of a "castrato." After his father's death he finds the book his father has written to explain his existance.

Moses begins his story with his deaf mother in the Swiss Alps. She is charged with ringing the loudest and most beautiful bells in thebelfy of the local church. This fact gives Moses his best and most damning ability --- his exquisite ability to hear all sounds completely, and to replicate music absolutely purely and clear...more Nicoloi, the narrator of the introduction to this story is the son of a "castrato." After his father's death he finds the book his father has written to explain his existance.

Moses begins his story with his deaf mother in the Swiss Alps. She is charged with ringing the loudest and most beautiful bells in thebelfy of the local church. This fact gives Moses his best and most damning ability --- his exquisite ability to hear all sounds completely, and to replicate music absolutely purely and clearly. She has been raped repeatedly by the local priest. Moses is the result of this rape. He lives with her in the belfy in unbelievable poverty and dirt until he is about six years old. At that time, his father, the preist discovers that he can hear, and attempts to drown him by throwing him in a river.

Moses is rescued by two monks traveling through this valley on their way back to St Gall, their monestory, returning from a trip to Italy. Theis monks are homosexuals, who are in a condemned relationship with each other. Their Abbot appears to know about their relationship, but tolerates their being in his monestary. Life in 1740's monestaries was not unpleasant --- lots of food, security, warmth.

When the abbot discovers that Moses can sing, he is placed under the "care" of Ulrich, the choir leader. The noble, and elite boys in the choir bully Moses all the time. Even though his voice is the best, they treat him with comtempt because of his peasant class. Fianlly, just before his tenth birthday, he is castrated.

He hides his "shameful" state as best he can from everyone, even from his rescurers Nicolie and "Remus" the two monks who act as his fathers. As he matures, he learns of his condition from Ulrich. His "father" discover his condition, and Nicoloia, who his a giant of a man, beats Ulrich adn trhows him down. Ulrich catches fire and is blinded.

The abbot uses Moses singing to gather money from the rich families in the town for his great obsession, the building of a new cathedral in the town. At one of these events, Moses meets Amalia, the only heir of the riches man in town.who walks with a limp because one of her legs has been damaged in a fall. She is a philosophe, who hates her role as marriagable daughter and wants to run away to learn. She and Moses fall in love.

After the beating of Ulrich, Moses's two fathers are exiled from the monestary, and the abbot "kindly" gives Moses the choice of following them into provertty and shame, or becoming a "unlearned" novice at the monestary. But he forbids Moses from ever singing again -- his shame as a castrate will be discovered if he does, and he will be forced to leave the monestary.

Moses and Amalia have an "affair." He keesp her blindfolded, and covers his shame with a bandage. He never tells her of his castration.
She is forced into marraige -- to a rich son of a Viennese famlily. Moses follows her to Vienna. There, by luck, he is discovered by the most famous castrato of Vienna, Gaetano Guadagni, a real person, who takes him under his wing and teaches him how to be a "musico."

Moses is reunited with Micolie and Remus, and finds a new friend in Tasso, a drawrf, who lives and works under the stage ofthe opera house. These three help reunite Moses and Amalia, who is now pregnant with the hier of the famous Riecher family. She dies in childbirth.
Moses, who now knows that castrati are valuable, gets his friends to ring thehuge bell in the church right across the street from the Riecher house. He uses the chaos the sound creates to steal Nicolai from the house. The friends ride in a specially designed carriage to Venice to begin his career as one of Europe's most famous castrati.

The ending of the story is very satisfying, because there is so much sadness and cruelty in the rest of the story. An interesting, thoughtful and compelling interpretation of what the life of a castrati must have been like during this period. Also, sadly, Amalia's life shows how rigid and enforced were the rules under which women lived thier lives --- even the most fortunate.(less)

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Oct 01, 2010 Holly Weiss rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Resounds with Operatic Melodrama"

How ironic that Nicolai, the protector of our musical hero says, "“Such music! Opera! How could I waste a moment with a book!” Although the writing is at times contrived, the power of visceral sound that reverberates from the pages of The Bells is astounding. If you are a lover of theatrics and sumptuous opera, this book is for you. Overwrought with all of the excesses we revel in on the opera stage, this opera lover read the book more with her ears than her eye...more

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Sep 12, 2010 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

I received this book from NetGalley.com, a fabulous resource for e-ARCs.

The Bells is set in the latter half of the 18th century. It starts out in The Swiss Confederation and moves to Vienna. The book is written in the first person, in the form of a letter from the protaganist to his son.

Moses Froben was born in a belfrey, the son of a deaf woman charged with ringing the 'loudest bells in the land' and a vicious priest, who later attempts to kill Moses when he realizes he's not a deaf imbecile. H...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Rhlibrary added it

This book is unlike any piece of historical fiction I’ve read before. Gone are the queens and other royal figures, the courtiers and painters. Moses, the son of a deaf-mute, grew up in a belfry before being cast out, found by two monks and taken to live in the Abbey of St. Gall where he sings in the choir. He is the one that no one wants with a operetic voice so in demand it becomes his curse. Gothic in tone with gorgeous language that has an ear for sound this book will pull you into the landsc...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Lydia Presley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, fiction, historic-fiction

I wanted to start my review of this book off with quotes from its magnificent contents - but unfortunately I was reading an advanced copy of it so this is not an option.

As a music student there are times I pick up a book with a musical theme and, more often than not, I end up disappointed. This can be for a few reasons: the authors naivety when it comes to the skill and discipline, the lack of research placed in musical history (relying instead on a few famous names and works).

Richard Harvell d...more I wanted to start my review of this book off with quotes from its magnificent contents - but unfortunately I was reading an advanced copy of it so this is not an option.

As a music student there are times I pick up a book with a musical theme and, more often than not, I end up disappointed. This can be for a few reasons: the authors naivety when it comes to the skill and discipline, the lack of research placed in musical history (relying instead on a few famous names and works).

Richard Harvell did not disappoint me.

THE BELLS is the story of a young boy, the son of a deaf-mute woman who lives, for all intents and purposes, in the belfry of a church. She "hears" the vibrations of the bells; sounds that would deafen anyone else that came close to them. But Moses, her son, is far from deafened. Instead hearing these bells in her womb has given him an extraordinary ability - but one that leads to a life of pain and uncertainty.

Richard Harvell approaches the custom of castrating young boys to preserve their soprano voices with a heavy, knowledgeable hand. This is not light-hearted historical fiction. This is fiction that reminded me of Follett's "Pillars of the Earth". It's detailed, horrifying and so amazingly fascinating I had a difficult time putting the book down.

In speaking to a friend recently she was shocked that this custom existed. It made me realize that, to many who do not have a musical background, this is a custom that is frequently overlooked when reading and writing historical stories. But can you blame us? This is not something that would be an easy or enlightening topic. Up until the early 19th century the castrati performed due to women not being allowed to sing. While the church took the official disapproving stance on this the opera theaters worshiped these men as angels.

This is a book - a story that sits on me heavily. It is not something I can easily set aside while moving on to the next book on the list. This is a book I need to talk to others about and encourage them to check out once it is made available. If you love historical fiction I recommend you do so as well.(less)

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Jun 01, 2012 Elise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-books

Harvell's "The Bells" is the best novel I have read in a *long* time! At least 300 of its 371 pages, I finished reading in one sitting. It was that good! Now, I wish I had taken my time and savored it a little more because I miss the loveable characters who still haunt me as well as I miss the enjoyable sensation of floating away into 18th century Switzerland and Vienna's monasteries, cathedrals, and opera houses on Harvell's beautifully written prose, which are as lovingly carved out of longing...more Harvell's "The Bells" is the best novel I have read in a *long* time! At least 300 of its 371 pages, I finished reading in one sitting. It was that good! Now, I wish I had taken my time and savored it a little more because I miss the loveable characters who still haunt me as well as I miss the enjoyable sensation of floating away into 18th century Switzerland and Vienna's monasteries, cathedrals, and opera houses on Harvell's beautifully written prose, which are as lovingly carved out of longing and desire as well-wrought poems. Each word was carefully chosen, and in combination with a compelling plot, realistic historical setting, and well developed, sympathetic characters, the result is phenomenal. Critic Sarah Dunant said, "_The Bells_ does for the ears what _Perfume_ did for the nose. A novel to engage the senses as well as tickle the mind." This comparison with Patrick Suskind's _Perfume_ is what first piqued my curiosity about _The Bells_, and it did not disappoint.

"In the twilight, winged beasts feast on the dead and dying: the flutter of the bat, the graceless clap of the alighting pigeon's wing, the mosquito's tenor, the fat fly's ecstatic hum as he hops from shit to urine. No sound was ugly. I laid my ears to graves" (Harvell, 160).

"On the stage of life, you can hear recitatives from the street on a warm night, and in winter you need no more than climb through a window or pick a lock and enter a front hallway. They, like their cousins in the world of opera, are the sounds that propel our life. They are the snore, the steady breath, the rasp, the rolling over groan, the dream babble. They are the hissing above a chamber pot, the trumpet of a congested nose. They are the chop of wood and the stoking of the fire in the winter, the kneading of dough in the dark hours of morning. The recitatives of our nights are the turning of the page by a sleepless hand, the pacing of the sleepless foot. They are disgusting. They are dull. They are repetitive, ignored, unheard. They are necessary" (161).

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Jan 14, 2012 Kay rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was full of sounds - the sounds of the opera, the sounds of cathedral bells, the sounds of the cobble-stone streets, and the sounds of friendship,betrayal, and pain. The pace of the story was dictated by the sounds enveloping the main character. I particularly enjoyed how the main story was wrapped by the image of the character's mother and her love for him - despite all odds. An enjoyable read - especially since I have visited the settings of Vienna and Venice.

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Sep 16, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have always been fascinated with the castrati, ever since learning about them in music school. The idea that someone would identify a small boy as having such an incredible voice that they would mutilate him to preserve the voice leaves me shaking my head, especially when one considers that the child had no say in the matter. Someone's life and future was dramatically and irrevocably changed for the sake of music. Of course the subject is what made me pick up this book in the first place, and...more

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Sep 19, 2010 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-favorite-read

From the minute I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. The Bells, tells the story of Moses Froben, who was born in a belfry to a deaf-mute, in a small and extremely poor village of the Swiss Alps in the 1700's. The villagers thought his mother was crazy, because she was skittish, dirty, and hid from the village people in caves or the belfry. She cared about nothing except her son, and her ringing of the bells every day. Moses as a young child, was allowed to live in the belfry w...more From the minute I first heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. The Bells, tells the story of Moses Froben, who was born in a belfry to a deaf-mute, in a small and extremely poor village of the Swiss Alps in the 1700's. The villagers thought his mother was crazy, because she was skittish, dirty, and hid from the village people in caves or the belfry. She cared about nothing except her son, and her ringing of the bells every day. Moses as a young child, was allowed to live in the belfry with his mother because it was believed that since he did not speak, he was as deaf and mad as his mother. However, this was not the case. Since Moses had been exposed to the daily ringing of these loud bells from the time he was in his mother’s womb,instead of deafness, he was born with an extraordinary acute sense of hearing.

When Father Carl Victor learns that Moses can speak, the priest fears that Moses will be able to expose what he has for so long kept hidden. He tells Moses , “If God will not make you deaf, then I will do it”, and to keep his secret he tries to drown Moses in a river. When two monks, Nicholai and Remus, rescue the frightened boy, Nicholai names him Moses, “a fine enough name for a boy swimming in the river”. Nicholai promises to care of Moses. When they bring the young boy back to the monastery, the abbot tells them they must take Moses to the orphanage in Rorschach or they will be forced to leave as well.

From this point on Moses preternatural hearing causes him both pleasure and pain. Later he is take later to a new cathedral, the Abbey of St. Gall, it seems that his life will improve. His performance in the choir makes him its prized singer. His keen sense of hearing and his love of music blossom, and he prepares for his first opera, but all this comes at a price.

Without revealing significant plot elements, I’d just like to say that this is truly a remarkable, unforgettable, historical debut novel. It is rare for me to read a story and be brought to tears, but this story had that effect on me. Told in the first person narrative, the sometimes touching, sometimes horrifying details of young Moses growing up, shall stay with me for a long while I am sure. The innocence of Moses as a child is so pitch perfect. The title of this novel was simplistic, but perfect, as The Bells, and sound, were key elements throughout this story. In summary, I just can’t imagine any book moving me the way this one did. I will be a Richard Harvell advocate, as this is a book that should be read by anyone who enjoys a story of substance, one that evokes emotion, and one that you will talk about again and again -- an awesome choice for book clubs everywhere.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - 5/5 STARS (less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Golem rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although the subject matter is opera, the style is more akin to melodrama than high art. The central cast of grotesques and cliched supporting characters weep, swoon, cry, bite their lips and generally behave like bad soap-opera characters with many of the chapters having a final last sentence or two that try to create a cliff-hanger ending forcing you to read on. The technique worked on me but became tiring after a while. The characters remained two-dimensional and suddenly seemed capable of ac...more

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About Richard Harvell

RICHARD HARVELL was born in New Hampshire, USA, and studied English literature at Dartmouth College. He now lives in Basel, Switzerland, with his wife and children. The Bells is his first novel.

About The Bells:

INDIE NEXT PICK, October, 2010

"The Bells does for the ears what Perfume did for the nose. A novel to engage the senses as well as tickle the mind."

—Sarah Dunant, international bestselling a...more

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“For if we know perfect beauty, with our eyes and with our ears, even for a second, we'll come that tiny bit closer to being it ourselves.” — 7 people liked it

“...there stood Remus, dressed in hat and cloak and carrying a satchel full of books as though we would be traveling for many days, as if running out of books were tantamount to running out of air.” — 1 person liked it

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