THE GILDED CAGE

by Sidney S. Stark ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Stark follows the fortunes of a talented violinist and her family into the tumults of Reconstruction in this sequel to Certain Liberties (2019).

It’s 1871 in New York City, and the pioneering concert violinist Emily de Koningh is now a wife and mother. Her husband, Corey, is a pianist and usually her accompanist, although lately he’s been away helping his father rebuild their textile business in the aftermath of the Civil War. As Corey travels in the South, Emily is left to run the stately New York mansion and raise their young sons, William and Connie—largely by herself. Frustrated and lonely, she leans on the friendship of her old music teacher, Robert Haussmann, who now tutors her children, and on her beloved Guarneri violin: “Some people couldn’t escape the confines of their personal worlds, no matter where they were, but she had a magic passkey to open whatever enclosure she was in, and she always carried it with her.” Meanwhile, Corey has developed an appreciation for the wild saloon music of the South—and for the region’s hospitable women, as well. This attraction alerts him to the lack of passion that he feels in his own marriage. He travels with his father, Klaas, who spent the war in behind the lines in the Confederacy. When Corey telegrams Emily to say he will be delayed in the South, she asks Robert to accompany her to Chicago, where she has performance dates that must be met. Unwittingly, Emily is headed into the Great Chicago Fire with her kids, her priceless violin, and a pregnancy she’s keeping secret from the public. As the de Koninghs do their small part to repair the republic, despite the many lingering grievances of the war, can Emily and Corey reconstruct their marriage for its next chapter?

Stark’s prose is elegant and ornate, evoking the Victorian novels that were popular during the time period: “There it was again, that word ‘guilt,’ or ‘gilt’—gold-plated remorse—that’s what the North offered the South. She smiled at the nuance just one less letter could suggest, like the addition or subtraction of an eighth note on a score.” As in the previous novel, Stark weaves her characters’ trajectories into the larger events of the time. Emily is shown to be a spirited and sympathetic lead. Indeed, it’s not uncommon that other characters acknowledge her many virtues—an unnecessary choice on the part of the author, as readers already get a fine sense of her good points. The New York–based protagonists have close and recent ties to Europe, and through their adventures in the South and Middle West, the author manages to tease out a larger portrayal of an emerging American modernity. The book unfolds at a leisurely pace, and the situations never become quite as messy as the reader might expect them to get. Still, Stark’s detailed recreation of the time period—culturally, linguistically, and philosophically—should please those who like nothing better than escaping into previous eras.

An unhurried and painterly novel of a musician finding her voice.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 394

Publisher: Manuscript

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION