Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell

The opposite of the screenplay Amadeus. In this novel Mozart is thoughtful and sensitive, but the the real center of the novel are the four Weber sisters. Mozart befriends all of them, eventually marrying Constanze after being jilted by another. They all played a large part in his early life. Very interesting novel, authentic and entertaining.

Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick

An interesting novel, set in the early 18th Century in Venice. The Pieta used female musicians in their choir, orphans and foundlings - virgins, in other words. Vivaldi wrote much of his music for them. The novel follows the life of one o the foundlings as she comes o age and discovers who her parents were. Music plays a large part in the novel.

Clara Schumann by Nancy B. Reich

The best English biography of Clara. Finally answered the question for me of how Robert Schumann died: Tertiary neurosyphillis.

If Jack's In Love by Stephen Wetta

A surprisingly good first novel, a traditional coming-of-age story. Jack is thirteen, and the youngest son of the white-trash Witcher family. As is usual in coming-of-age novels, he begins to see his parents and brother as they really are, makes friends with an adult (a Jewish jeweler) outside the family, and has his first girlfriend and kiss. His brother is also implicated in the murder of his girlfriend's brother.

It's told throughout from Jack's viewpoint, which does wear thin part way through, but the suspense of the mystery pulls us through the rough spots. The ending is satisfying if not unexpected. Overall an excellent novel.