Author Julie Gilbert Discusses the Writing of Her New Book ‘Giant Love’
Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
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Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash Wolfgang Mozart was remarkable. But then, so was his sister Nannerl. We’ve heard a lot about George Orwell, less about his fascinating wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy. How familiar are you with Dame Alice Kyteler, the first woman in Ireland to be condemned as a witch? Or Marie de France, a 12 th century poet? Or Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the finest painters of the 17th century? Talented, smart, ambitious women came before us, as well as talented, smart, ambitious men. And yet, too much of women’s history has been erased or forgotten. It is through literature that we’re finally beginning to understand where we really come from. I’m fascinated by the history of music. It’s by exploring this that I first discovered a collection of female orphans from 18 th century Venice were fundamental to the birth of the concerto, and to their teacher— Antonio Vivaldi’s—compositions. Without these women and girls we wouldn’t have the most famous piece of music in the world, “The Four Seasons.” My novel, The Instrumentalist , imagines the life of one of these orphans: Anna Maria della Pietà. She was Vivaldi’s star pupil. Picture a world without the Beatles, or Taylor Swift, without Claude Monet’s art or Maria Callas’ voice. Anna Maria della Pietà was the pop star of her day, a world-famous violinist that even kings and queens admired, and yet almost no one has heard of her. I decided I would do everything I could to tell her story. Researching The Instrumentalist , I could feel the weight of all that we have lost. This enormous cavity where the stories that ignite our imaginations and the works that sing very our souls should be. Literature has the power to breathe light into the shadows. I decided that by combining fact and fiction I could try to do justice to the beauty of Anna Maria’s mind. A novel could demonstrate her determination and resilience, and how it might feel to be as talented as her and yet, still, capped by being a woman in the 18 th century. […]
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Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
The Mallorcan Joana Marcús is a young bestseller in Spain and America, writer of young adult novels with a romantic
