The Instrumentalist Audiobook By Harriet Constable cover art

The Instrumentalist

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The Instrumentalist

By: Harriet Constable
Narrated by: Emilia Clarke, Harriet Constable
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About this listen

 The Times top ten bestseller

‘As tightly tuned as a thriller’ Telegraph
‘A marvel’ Kiran Millwood Hargrave
‘Compelling, vividly described magic’ Observer
‘Historical fiction as it should be written’ Mail on Sunday
‘Remarkable’ New York Times


Anna Maria may have no name, no fortune, no family. But she has her ambition, and her talent.

Her best hope lies in her teacher, Antonio Vivaldi. Soon she is his star pupil.

But as Anna Maria’s star rises, not everyone is happy. Because Anna Maria’s shining light threatens to eclipse that of her mentor…

She will leave her mark, whatever it takes. Her story will be heard.

‘A compassionate coming-of-age tale … Constable understands the power music has to sustain us’ Observer
‘Had me spellbound from start to finish’ Emma Stonex
‘Constable infuses historical fact with richly wrought fictional details, to investigate admiration and resentment, ego and legacy’ i paper
‘A whirlwind of all-consuming, dizzying ambition … Spectacularly imagined’ Mail on Sunday
‘Vibrates with colour and passion … I was completely swept up’ Elodie Harper
‘An immersive, impassioned tale full of colour and sound’ Guardian©2024 Harriet Constable (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Historical Fiction
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I learned something new (actually I learned it just from reading the reviews of this book and interviews about it before I bought it): I learned that Vivaldi, whose music I love, taught these girls and women at this “orphanage” (they are really foundlings or abandoned children), and that such a foundling hospital for girls, though quite harsh in many ways, offered more opportunities than many such facilities did at the time or even later. And, I learned more about Anna Maria Della Pieta. The premise of basing a work of historical fiction on the institution, the orchestra there, Vivaldi’s role, and Anna Maria is an excellent premise. However, unfortunately, there seemed to be very little historical record to work with - no letters or memoirs of Anna Maria, no published musical compositions. Therefore, much of what is in the story is possibility, but not known. It also seemed to me that there was not enough to truly fill out the story, and the author constantly used colors as some kind of way of expressing the sense of the music. I found she way overdid it with the blues, greens, reds etc etc many times over. If there were some memoir that indicated that Anna Maria heard music that way, then there could be justification to use that description, and even then, not so much. The book could have been trimmed down easily. The idea that women might have composed some of the music but did not get credit - that is certainly credible. We now know of much scientific work that was either stolen and published by men, or published by men whom the women worked with without giving any credit to the women. And there are probably many such cases we will never know about. The narrator did a fine job. This book is decent historical fiction, but not outstanding.

Good idea, too much with the colors

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Beautifully written and read. I felt all of the emotions and colours and couldn’t stop listening. Bravo.

A wonderful reimagining of the life & works of Vivaldi & Anna Maria Della Pieta

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