English by birth, Prussian by marriage, rebellious by nature, the beautiful Arabella von Deppe steers her family through turbulent historical times in this thrilling story of love and loss, betrayal and revenge, ambition and beliefs, friendship and fate. With music as her inspiration and a murderer as her friend, she proves a worthy adversary of Fortune as she weathers winds beyond her control.
Against a vivid backdrop of Frederick the Great’s court, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the action in Edward Glover’s sequel to The Music Book spans four decades and four countries – Prussia, Russia, England and France – bringing the English countess face to face with Prussian kings, a Russian empress, Beethoven and Mozart.
The second volume in a compelling trilogy, Fortune’s Sonata ends with an intriguing mystery that sets the scene for the final book, about two families on the road to the First World War.
Edward was born in London. After gaining a history degree followed by an MPhil at Birkbeck College, London University, he embarked on a career in the British diplomatic service, during which his overseas postings included Washington DC, Berlin, Brussels and the Caribbean. He subsequently advised on foreign ministry reform in post-invasion Iraq, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. More recently, for seven years he headed a one-million-acre rainforest-conservation project in South America, on behalf of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Guyana Government.
With an interest in 16th- and 18th-century history, baroque music and 18th-century art, Edward was encouraged by the purchase of two paintings and a passport to try his hand at writing historical fiction. His first title The Music Book is a story of intrigue, betrayal, revenge, death and redemption, set in 18th-century Europe.
Edward and his wife, former Foreign & Commonwealth Office lawyer and leading international human rights adviser Dame Audrey Glover, now live in Norfolk, a place that gives him further inspiration for his writing. Edward sits on the board of trustees for Size of Wales and is a director of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Association, an associate fellow of the University of Warwick's Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies and a board member of The King's Lynn Preservation Trust.
When he isn't writing, Edward is an avid tennis player and completed the 2014 London Marathon, raising over £7,000 for Ambitious about Autism.
I received a free copy of this book as a Goodreads giveaway.
Anything historical tends to put me off and therefore this isn't normally the type of book I would have gone for. Having said that, I unexpectedly enjoyed it. well-written and entertaining, it also gave a good insight into the historical perspective and it flowed well from start to finish.