This book is going to be really huge but for those of you who can resist the upwelling roar of the crowd, I would like to suggest that it could have been cut by a third and been much better. Mr. Morrow writes description well and his use of musicology in the text is lovely. His dialogue, however, needed a lot more editing than it got from his team.

I received a review copy of "The Prague Sonata" by Bradford Morrow (Grove Atlantic) through NetGalley.com.

This is an educational and entertaining entry into the subgenera of historical fiction with twined stories spanning time. Otylie and Meta are separated by time and space but they are both fascinated with the same piece of music. You'll get a wonderful sense of Prague, which is almost a character in and of itself, and learn something about classical music. The point of view shifts keep the story moving even as Meta's quest to find Otylie and the various pieces of the sonata she split to keep it safe during WWII. I had not thought of hiding sheet music from the Nazis but that's the basis for this novel. Morrow is great with descriptions and educating you, although sometimes things in the narrative flagged a bit. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this one if you are interested in classical music or if you're a fan of historical fiction.

This book contains several of my favorite things- history, music, a love story and a good mystery. Meta, a musicologist, is given the second movement of an unknown 18th century sonata by Irena, a Czech emigre, and charged with finding the first and third movements.

The story travels back and forth in time, between Otylie being given the sonata by her father at the end of WWI, to her divvying up the movements during WWII to keep it out of the hands of the Germans, to her later life and then to the present day as Meta attempts to find Otylie and re-discover the other movements.

The writing here is lush; the tale vivid. Descriptions of Prague read like a perfect travelogue, making you feel you are walking the streets. I know enough about classical music to be dangerous. The book does a great job of educating the reader without pontificating. It made me want to seek out some of the music mentioned.

The middle of the book falls into the typical problem with stories involving searches. How to transmit the lack of progress and sense of futility, the many false starts and wrong turns, without settling into tedium? It's a fine line and one this book doesn't completely manage. Luckily, just at the point where boredom was starting to set in, the book picks up again.

The book is told from multiple points of view, including the good and bad guys, which helps advance the story. I especially appreciated understanding Wittman. The story is fascinating. A little bit better editing to tighten things up would have helped move it along at a brisker pace.

My thanks to netgalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance copy of this book

Historical fiction about a young woman’s search to recover the separated movements of a sonata. As a child living in Prague, Otylie inherits a musical score from her father, who was killed in WWI. She breaks the score into three parts to hide it from the Nazis during WWII. In 2000, an elderly woman entrusts one of the parts to Meta, a musicologist and former concert pianist. Meta feels compelled to put her current life on hold to pursue the missing pieces. Her search takes her to the city of Prague, where she meets a variety of colorful characters, some of whom prove helpful, while others attempt to sabotage her efforts.

The writing is beautifully descriptive, especially the details about life in Prague. The storyline encompasses many timeless themes, such as family relationships, friendship, the far-reaching impacts of war, love, sacrifice, betrayal, idealism vs. pragmatism, and music as a source of inspiration and motivation. The story spans multiple time lines, including WWI, WWII, 1989, and 2000, and tends to jump backward and forward frequently. It is extremely detailed in places and includes musical jargon that may not be familiar to all readers. The upside of this use of musically descriptive language is the author’s ability to present an almost audible quality to the work. In addition to being an entertaining reading experience, I thought the author skillfully conveyed a message about the importance of preserving art and music for the enjoyment of future generations.

Recommended to classical music lovers and those interested in Czech history or culture.

If I were more musical this wonderful novel could easily be set to a beautiful lilting melody.
We first come across Otylie as a young girl fearing the loss of her soldier father to the trenches of WWI and already bereaved by the loss of her mother to influenza. When her father is killed she goes to live with an aunt in Prague her only memory being the manuscript of an unknown sonata given to her by her father. Having married Jakub Bartos and living happily Otylie then is thrown into the despair of the Germans invading Prague and her life once again being destroyed. To save the manuscript she divides it into three pieces - keeps one herself, one given to her husband and the third to her friend Irena.
Time shift to New York in the year 2000 when musician Meta Taverner is given Irena's part of the sonata and becomes obsessed to trace the missing parts of the unknown music piece by travelling to Prague herself.
The novel flows very well and Meta's journey - both physically and emotionally rises and falls like the notes she tries to decipher on the pages of music. We are taken from Prague to England and America and then back again to unravel the tragedies of the Nazi occupation in the 1940s to more recent uprisings in Prague and the hopes of artistic souls trying to discover not just the lost parts of the manuscript but of empty hearts and minds.

What makes me love a book? Gorgeous writing. Great characters. An intriguing plot. Insights into our common humanity. Historical perspective. Encountering joy and love. Encountering horror, war, and villains. A story line that grabs me so I want to know what happens next.

Some books have one or two of those attributes. To find a book that wraps up all of these things is a happy day indeed. Bradford Morrow's The Prague Sonata offers the whole package.

The story is rich and complex, but also full of music and visual references that made me think, I can't wait to see the movie.

Protagonist Meta Taverner had dedicated her life to becoming a concert pianist when a fatal accident damaged her hand. Therapy has restored her ability to play only with "competence." Meta performs at an outpatient cancer facility, attracting the notice of patient Irena, who summons Meta to visit.

Irena has held the partial score of a piano sonata since her friend Otylie gave it to her to protect during the Nazi occupation of Prague. Irena also tasks Meta with returning the score to Otylie, hoping the entire manuscript will be reunited.

Mesmerized by the sonata, and hoping to find the missing sections and perhaps solve the mystery of who composed it, Meta takes up the quest. She puts aside her job and boyfriend to journey to Prague. There, she learns the tragic history of Czechoslovakia under the Nazi and Soviet regimes, encounters threats and intrigue, and discovers love.

The novel expands with reading, moving from the narrow academic world of musicologists to the deprivations of war and the occupation of Prague, to the refugee experience. What starts as a mild mystery turns into a quest, with elements of a thriller at the end.

Flashbacks fill in the story. Otylie's father was on leave from The Great War for her mother's funeral when he gave her the piano sonata. He told her, guard it with your own life; one day it will bring you great fortune. He soon after died.

Otylie is grown and newly married when Prague gives the keys of the city to the Nazis. Otylie wanted to keep the score out of the hands of the Germans so she divided it into three parts, distributing a section to her beloved husband, who was a part of the underground resistance, and another to her dear friend Irena. She kept the first section for herself. At the end of WWII, Otylie's husband is dead and Irena has left the country. Otylie first immigrates to England and then to America.

The sonata's beauty and innovation is amazing. In a copyist's hand, the score appears to be a true antique, but there is no indication of the composer. Is a lost work by Mozart, or C.P.E. Bach, or Hayden? The score ends with the beginning measures of the next movement, a Rondo.

Thirty-year-old Meta is naive and honest. She is driven by love of music and her pledge to reunite the sonata with it's rightful owner. Her mentor has connected her with Petr Witman, a musicologist contact in Prague, who endeavors to undermine Meta by saying the sonata is a fake, hoping to get his hands on it. He sees fame and dollar signs. Witman is a man with shifting allegiances, doing whatever it took to stay afloat under the Nazis, the Soviets, and the new Federal Republic. He has no moral code.

Meta is supported by many people in Prague, including a journalist who falls in love with her. On their quest to find the third part of the score, they must keep one step ahead of Witmann. Meta's journey takes her across America, too, pursued by Witman.

I enjoyed learning about Prague and Czechoslovakia. In the 18th c it was the hub of culture and music, a city that loved Mozart.

I loved that music informs the novel and musical language is used in descriptions. Meta knows that the sonata represents a new chapter in her life. "If her own thirty years constituted a first movement of a sonata, she sensed in her gut that she was right now living the opening notes of the second."Morrow describes the second movement of the sonata given to Meta so well, one understands its "staggering power and slyness," the "quasi-requiem tones of the adagio" followed by the promise of joy indicated in the opening measures of the rondo in the second movement.

When I started reading The Prague Sonata I was unhappy I had requested such a long book. What was I thinking? As I got into the story, I was actually drawing out my reading, unwilling to end the experience too soon. And that's about the best thing a reader can say about a book!

(Read more about Mozart in Prague in Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Devastation Road by Jason Hewitt concerns Czechoslovakia after WWII. The Spaceman of Bohemia is sci-fi that also addresses life under the Soviets.)

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Although extremely well researched, The Prague Sonata read more like a textbook than a novel, with not enough story and too many details weighing it down. I couldn't keep track of the many Czech names or all the info about composers and their works. The first half was kind of tedious... it got better in the 2nd half, but sadly the ending felt forced and unrealistic. It was like the author learned so much about Prague, Czechoslovakia, and composers and tried to stuff everything into this book, forgetting that it should be a novel with characters who engage our interest and an exciting story from beginning to end.

The Prague Sonata
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Meta Taverner was an aspiring pianist, when an accident injuring her right hand ended her pianist career. She instead delves into musicology and teaching. Through her best friend, who is her boyfriends sister, she is entrusted with an original music manuscript dating back probably to the 19th century. Irena who entrusts her with the manuscript is on her deathbed and explains to Meta, that this is just one movement of a Sonata of three movements that was given to her in 1939 when the Nazis invaded her home in Czechoslovakia. She asks Meta to try to find the other two movements. . Meta leaves her New York life behind and takes off for Czechoslovakia to try to chase down the complete Sonata. This is the basic premise of the novel. The story goes back and forth in different time frames. I have read many books that go back and forth in time and usually don't have a problem with that, but in this novel timeframes and events are all over the place from WWI to present time to WWII, to the falling of the Berlin Wall, back and forth, etc. without a smooth transition ( some of it might be due to reading an unedited copy without chapter and paragraph breaks).
There is just too much unnecessary detail in this book, rambling on and on. Lots of Chech dialogues, which although mostly translated, very confusing, and doesn't add to the plot. This would have been a great book, had it been a lot shorter, eliminating highly technical musical descriptions, detailed descriptions and names of local streets, etc.
The search for the two missing movements of the Sonata is far fetched, not believable, the romance part predictable, the bad guys totally not necessary, overall no more than a three star book.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

I liked this novel for many things, including the history and the way it describes Prague (I was just there!), but sometimes it was a bit overwritten, and the romance didn't do a lot for me. An enjoyable read, but not the kind of book I'd choose for the límited space I work with in our magazine.

I sped though this thoroughly engaging novel’s 500 pages in a long holiday weekend, eager to get on with it in any free time I had. The subject matter and characterizations are handled unusually well. I have not been to Prague, but Mr. Morrow’s vivid accounts of it are inviting. I had hoped that the book might do something more interesting with the novel’s relationship with the music, as in recent novels such as Richard Powers’ Orfeo, Nathaniel Mackey’s From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate, Joshua Cohen’s Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto, and Kirsty Gunn’s The Big Music. Instead, the sonata of the title is not too much more than a McGuffin. Also, while there are some relatively minor surprises along the way, the reader knows all along how the story must end. Still, the book is well worth one’s attention

With World War II raging, Otylie splits a sonata into three parts, hoping to keep the treasured score from the hands of the Nazi's. In present day, Meta Taverner, a musicologist, is handed 1/3 of the manuscript and tasked with finding the other two pieces. Her journey leads her to Prague, where she meticulously searches house to house for information on Otylie.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Meta was an interesting and well developed character. I did find Whittman to be a poor villain, he could have been developed in a much more fluid way, leaving Meta with real challenges and obstacles. I did find the constant switching of people and timelines to be distracting. It would have been nice if the past timeline was done in a chronological manner. 4 out of 5 stars.

This is a book that will appeal to classical music lovers, to those who like mysteries, as well as to those who know and love Praque. When a young musicologist is given a partial sonata manuscript, it enthralls her, and she sets out to discover its remaining two parts as well as its composer and its owner. Her search leads her from New York to Prague, to London and back to the US. Interwoven are tales of WWI as well as the Velvet Revolution and of love and loss and immigration. I found myself intrigued not just by the mystery of the sonata but also by the main character and her dedication to solving the mystery.

The Prague Sonata - Bradford Morrow

‘All wars begin with music’ - such is the premise of this sweeping historical saga which moves from Czechoslovakia to New York from the end of World War 1 to the present day.

It follows the story of Otilye, who is given the manuscript of an anonymous Classical era piano sonata by her father in 1920s Prague. To keep it safe from the Nazis, she decides to divide the manuscript in three to render each part worthless alone.

A young, passionate American musicologist Meta, plays musical detective and her efforts to reunite the movements after accidentally encountering an elderly Otilye in modern day New York, forms the basis of the novel.

The journey to the reunification of the parts is at the heart of this epic story of love and loss which is richly peppered with musical references. There is evidence of very detailed research and Morrow shows an in-depth knowledge of music throughout.

Musical metaphors abound from ‘chromatic scales of terror, dissonant chords of dread’ to the syncopated riff of gunfire’. While evocative, there are too many metaphors and as the novel progresses, the effect becomes cloying and predictable.

Equally evocative are descriptions of Prague and New York and Morrow vividly paints word pictures of both cities to better effect. The landscape of both cities plays backdrop to two love stories in different times as the two couples navigate through events which conspire to keep them apart.

At times it can be difficult to tell the two stories apart, the move from one story to another in the early stages of the novel are not always flagged clearly enough. However, as the two stories develop, the differences become clearer and the endings make the novel as a whole a very satisfying read.

Lush, lovely, and lyrical would be an accurate way to describe Mr. Morrow's twenty year journey in researching and writing The Prague Sonata.
I was captivated from the beginning by the story of two women, born almost sixty years apart, in their quest to preserve, and then recover a sonata of unknown authorship but of unmistakable beauty and originality. A sonata is a composition written in three sections know as an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation
Otylie Laska’s father gives her an eighteenth century manuscript of unknown provenance and authorship the night before he leaves to die in World War I. Music is war and war is music he tells her. She takes this to heart and refuses all contact with music although she treasures and cares for this manuscript because she recognizes the beauty and rarity of this music.
World War II comes to Prague in 1939. By then she has married a Jewish antiquarian, Jakub Bartsova who leaves Prague for the underground as the Nazis march into Prague. Otylie is determined to protect the sonata while at the same time keeping it from the Nazis. She divides the three sections of the sonata between herself, her husband Jakub and her very best friend Irena.
The year 2000 and Irena is dying. She manages to deliver a section to and fascinate a young musicologist, Meta Taverner, with the story of the sonata. Meta had been on her way to an illustrious career as a concert pianist. A car accident which damaged her hand has removed her far from the ranks of a first class pianist and into a career as a musicologist.
Meta is determined to travel to Prague and to find and unite all of the sections, plus determine the author of the sonata. The main drawback in determining authorship is the sonata is in a copyist’s hand, not the original composer’s hand.
If Meta’s crazy theory of authorship is proven, the music world will be set on its head and years of research will ensue.
What I don’t know about music can be told in one word: everything. Yet I did not find my ignorance much of a drawback. Yes, I occasionally wished for a better understanding of some of the terms, but Marrow helped me past those problems with his explanations and metaphors.
The story flows beautifully between different keepers of the sections and different historical times from World I through The Velvet Revolution. Prague is sometimes described as the most beautiful city in Europe. After reading about Prague during the time of the Nazi’s and communists one begins to understand the miracle of Prague’s survival.
There is a villain who loses all sense of himself in his quest to retrieve and own the sonata, but Marrow already knows this story is dramatic as it stands and the added drama is mild and well handled.
Most of the characters, even the one that appear for just a short while are multi-layered and fascinate with their own stories, the exception being a boyfriend, Jonathan, who was just a pleasant, then sad distraction.
The writing is just beautiful and I could give example after example, but let me end with this stunning quote “Impatient to experience the music off the page and set it free in the air”
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A while ago I read Morrow's Forgers and remember enjoying it within reason, but being somewhat underwhelmed. One of the most memorable things about that reading experience was the exhaustive amount of research the author ahs obviously put into it. Well, at 300some pages that was nothing comparing to this particular behemoth and all the musicology that went into it. Confession time...Music, I'm just not that into you. I'm not against music for the right occasion for a reasonable duration, but it's far behind other pleasurable pursuits like books and movies. And this book is about (and for, ideally) passionate music lovers. I do have an appreciation for classical repertoire, so I had a decent idea about the world of the characters, but my literary obsessed mind was definitely reimagining this novel as one where the object of pursuit was a book and not a sonata. Still, a pursuit is a pursuit, and one that spans decades and continents is certainly a compelling one. The coveted object is the musical equivalent of a previously undiscovered Shakespeare play. The setting is international. The narrative split in two alternating timelines, one tracing the original ownership, one following the present time young musicologist's quest to find it. Whatever your thoughts on music may be, as a work of historical fiction this is terrific. Guess you can tell which portion of the novel I preferred. Visiting Prague (armchair traveling or otherwise) is always a treat and Morrow does a splendid job of depicting the glorious city even at its direst moments. WWII has been kinder to Prague than other European cities, but still left its scars and this novel shines the light on that traumatic era. In general, this is a great representation of the 20th century Czechoslovakia, the struggles, triumphs and all. And as far as the dramatic writing goes, this is quite an engaging story, I spent (quite uncharacteristically) four days with it, mainly due to its girth, but it read very enjoyably. The characters were charming, likeable, particularly Otylie. Yes, if one has to offer some criticism, it was very long and occasionally overly sentimental or slightly overwritten, but these are really too minor of detractors for such a grand (in every way) total. Entertaining, immersive reading experience that plays to the mind the way its eponymous sonata must to the ear...lovely. Thanks Netgalley.

The book kind of dragged on and the changing of characters and locations and times was a bit annoying and a little difficult to follow. The whole premise is very interesting, but as I said, it drags on and I lost interest in it a few times, so I had problems finishing it.

I found the Prague Sonata to be an engaging, rewarding read. This is perhaps because it works on many levels.

A search for a valuable old music document becomes an obsession for the hero of the tale, Meta Tavernier, a once-gifted pianist retired out of her original vocation through injury. She is prepared to leave everything behind - home, partner, work, commitments and responsibilities to pursue the dream of recovering the missing too pieces of a hotherto-undiscovered musical masterpiece. If masterpiece it is.

Meta travels to Prague and at first her efforts to get to the bottom of the mystery are discouraging. Many do not understand her obsession at all, not least the fiance she left behind. She is, however, to meet those who do understand why the manifestations of Art and Genius might be enough to move someone who is receptive to such heady things.......

Meta's story in the present is intertwined with the story of what happened to the original owner of the manuscript - in a Prague rent not just by the tragedy of Wood War One, but of the oppression of the spirit of the city with its annexation by the Nazis and then, by the Communists. Certain members of the old regime are also interested in that D manuscript...

Meta has to decide where her priorities lie as she perseveres within the labyrinths of a magically soulful city to reunite the three parts of the manuscript, finding out as much about art and true love as she does about the history of the city.

The Prague Sonata is therefore as much a live story as it is a mystery novel, as it is about reconciliation with the past. Over and above that it is also a tale about the human spirit and celebrating the transcendent gift of genius.

This book could easily be imagined as a film too. We'll recommended.


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As a professional classical musician, I was thrilled to get my hands on an advanced copy of The Prague Sonata by Bradford Morrow. It is incredibly rare to find fictional books set in my world of classical music and I wasn´t disappointed with the intricate level of research that Mr Morrow displayed in this sweeping historical novel set across 80 years from Europe to America.

The Prague Sonata begins with Otyllie Bartsova who is given the sonata by her beloved musician father. Devastated by the events of the Great War, she vows to give up music and continue with her life, finding love in Prague with young antique dealer, Jacob. Driven to desperation by the German occupation of Czechoslavakia, she divides her sonata into three pieces, leaving one movement with her beloved husband who joins the Resistance and her best friend Irina.

60 years later, the movement belonging to Irina, falls into the hands of young musicologist Meta Taverner and she begins to trace the history of the movement, moving to Prague to try and bring the three movements of the sonata together. The book follows the story of Meta and Otyllie, interspersing Otyllie´s journey from Prague to London and New York with Meta´s current investigation.

I really enjoyed reading the book and had no quibbles about the musical information. I find the book a bit too long, and at times it was confusing to have so many different narratives in place. However it was an enjoyable and beautiful novel which I will recommend to my friends, musical and non-musical. I look forward to read more of Bradford Morrow´s work in the future.

Thankyou to Netgalley for letting me read this book in advance in exchange for an honest review.

Music and War. All wars begin with music her father tells her just before he leaves to never return. Entrusting her with a portfolio with a mysterious sonata.

A look at Prague during WWII. The story is less a history lesson than a personal memoir of Otylie, who protects the piece the best way she knows how as her country is overridden by Nazis and neighbor turns against neighbor. While her own husband goes underground to join the resistance, she is left to survive and protect the sonata the best way she knows how.

In New York, many years later a chance meeting with an old woman from Prague brings Meta, a musicologist, into that same world. By giving her the piece of the sonata that Otylie entrusted her with and begging her to find the other two parts and return them to Otylie. 

And so begins a journey that is told through various characters eyes. At times difficult to read, even knowing how this war would turn out, I cried for the people of Prague. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to and now have a much deeper appreciation for.

A story of hope and love and the power of music. Every one of the great composers is here as well as the great writers. We travel from WWI to the end of the Nazi regime.

It is a long read but well worth reading especially today.

Thank you Mr. Morrow!      Netgalley/Atlantic Monthly Press  October 3, 2017

The Prague Sonata was extremely well researched. Unfortunately, more often than not, this research read like a history book with countless facts or much like a telephone book filled with Czech names. It reminded me of Cliff Clavin, from television’s ‘Cheers’. Cliff knew everything about everything (“It’s a little known fact that …”) and told you all of it. There were more details in this book than I ever wanted to know.

There were too many Czech names and street names. There were too many references regarding old composers – some famous, some not – along with their histories and innumerable details about their works. And there were too many other needless details about needless details.

In the first half of the book, there was not enough story. In fact, the premise itself was farfetched to think someone could go knocking on doors more than a half century later to find what she was looking for. The disappointment after disappointment at them not finding answers got annoying and eye-rolling. It became very tedious reading.

Thankfully, the story did pick up the second half. The wrap-up, however, was very contrived; a lot had to come together for the ending to work.

Mr. Morrow has a vast knowledge of words, using big ones every chance he got. And he definitely knew his stuff about Prague, Czechoslovakia, and composers. I have no doubt that he put his heart into this novel. Kudos for that. Sadly, though, I do not recommend The Prague Sonata to my reading friends.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Prague Sonata.