Volume 1
Music for Three in a Prelude to Revolution
Far from home, in a culture whose literature, art and music she has cherished since childhood, Katherine revels in speaking her ‘second language’ and the beauty of Prague. But her year of quiet reflection is complicated by a love triangle with an activist and a reclusive cellist. And she readily accepts the opportunity offered by her new Czech friends to join dangerous covert resistance against a hard-line regime in place since the ‘brotherly assistance’ of the Warsaw Pact invasion.
As she discovers new purpose translating and smuggling human rights reports out to the West and blacklisted books in, Katherine feels that opposing the kind of tyranny that has hurt her family and millions of others is a special kind of music…
In a lyrical and nuanced narrative, Janet Savin dramatizes accelerating protest against a brutal and desperate regime in one of Europe’s most beautiful old cities. This first of two volumes draws from her life in Prague during the buildup to the Velvet Revolution and offers a poignant and richly detailed story of an expatriate family’s longing for their home land and a young woman’s search for her place in its heritage.
FORMATS AVAILABLE: Hardback, ebook
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 31, 2022
PUBLISHER: J Savin
ISBN: 978-1913532574 (hardback); 978-1915036209 (ebook)
Reviews for Music for Three in a Prelude to Revolution
"This is a rewarding and absorbing story that weaves a deftly drawn emotional journey into the protagonist’s past and family history with elements drawn from historical fiction and the thriller, combining them into a quietly enthralling narrative. The prose style is delicate and flowing, but capable - like so much of the music that underpins the story - of swelling into passionate intensity when required.
The author’s knowledge and personal experience allow her to integrate riveting historical, geographical and cultural details into the journey her protagonist takes back to her family’s roots in the ancient, sophisticated and often tragic city of Prague. The music that was created there, too, is beautifully incorporated into the plot as a constant motif and counterpoint to the emotions of the characters.
Katherine, the main character, is easy to empathise with and care about, and her journey, with all its highs and lows, is quite captivating. The relationships she forms with the other characters, and with the city of Prague itself, are truthful and poignant, and the author allows them to develop gradually and subtly over time, giving all the elements of the narrative the necessary space to evolve and progress to a satisfying climax that made me anticipate the second volume eagerly."
Amazon customer review
"The Velvet Revolution saw an unusually non-violent shift in power away from one-party rule in Czechoslovakia as it was at the time.
Music For Three's gorgeous first volume explores the lead up to the movement through the eyes of young Juilliard graduate, Katherine, who seeks a life beyond treading the expected boards of the concert circuit.
I was carried through a gorgeous rendering of Prague on a river of lyrical and affecting prose. The tension builds beautifully as Katherine contends and comes to terms with her affections for two very different men and her opportunity to take a dangerous but necessary role in the growing resistance.
Prague's chequered history, and Katherine's family's experiences there are brought to the fore through the deftly woven narrative that clearly benefits the author's own experience of Prague. By matching and challenging the emotions of the main characters through the judicious reference to music, art and literature, the culture of one of the most beautiful and resilient cities in the world, is brought to vibrant life.
Highly recommended."
Amazon customer review
