Maria

Most people know Maria von Trapp through The Sound of Music, but Michelle Moran's novel asks how much of her real story the musical told. It brings Maria to life as a woman whose experiences were far more complicated than the stage and screen version.

The story opens in the 1950s, when Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics for a musical based on Maria's life. He learns that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as a nun in Austria until her abbey sent her to tutor the sickly child of a widowed baron. What should have been a ten-month assignment unexpectedly became a marriage proposal. Later, when the family had to flee their home to escape the Nazis, Maria taught them to survive using only their voices.

Hammerstein, one half of Rodgers & Hammerstein, sees the Broadway potential in this inspirational tale. But much of Maria's life must be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of the war still fresh in audiences' minds, he cannot show how close the von Trapps came to losing their lives. When Maria reads the script, she is so angry that she sets out to confront Hammerstein in person. Told he is busy, she is sent to speak with his secretary, Fran instead. The two women form an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in the musical.

The novel explores love, loss, and the hard choices people are forced to make. It also shows how the truth can be more complicated than the stories Hollywood preserves. Michelle Moran is the author of other historical novels, including Nefertiti and Madame Tussaud.