THE WOMAN IN THE MOONLIGHT

Angela Dawe's sparkling narration supplies the needed kick to a debut novel that is more melodrama than drama. Beethoven taught piano to the families of nobility. He fell in love with Josephine Brunsvik, one of his pupils, but because of class differences, no deeper connection was possible. However, Josephine's friend Julie, also a countess and Beethoven's piano student, fell in love with their short, homely tutor. Their affair resulted in Julie's pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage, inspiring Beethoven to compose MOONLIGHT SONATA and dedicate it to her. Dawe delivers Julie's melancholy whenever she hears the piece; she makes Beethoven's irascible nature credible, and she does wonders with accents and gender. However, even with Dawe's performance, most of these characters lack substance, and the plot is oddly disappointing. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2020]