MARIA: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran is an engaging biographical historical fiction novel that takes the reader on a journey into the real life of Maria von Trapp compared to the Maria von Trapp portrayed in The Sound of Music. It is a story that is fictionalized and yet still is able to demonstrate the truth of a life is usually more complicated.

Oscar Hammerstein is asked to compose the music for a Broadway play based on the life of Maria von Trapp and her singing family. While it is an inspirational story, it must be condensed for the stage and when Maria sees the script, she is very angry and wants to confront Hammerstein. Hammerstein sends his secretary, Fran, to meet with Maria and find out what she objects to in the musical.

Fran is excited to meet Maria and as she listens to Maria’s life story they become unlikely friends over the week of conversations, but she knows it is too late to change the musical and worries that Maria could cause problems with the press. She begins to understand why Maria is upset, so she writes her report hoping Mr. Hammerstein can do something.

This story is one that you will want to curl up on the couch with and read in one sitting. The differences between the real Maria and the Maria of The Sound of Music are fascinating. She was not an easy woman by any means after a difficult childhood and yet it was her ambition, resilience, and grit that got the family through many difficult times. Families are complicated. I also found the snippets of Oscar Hammerstein’s life interesting. I know that whenever I watch the movie again, I will still love it for what it is, a fun musical movie, but it is not what the real-life von Trapp's experienced, and their lives were much more complicated than what you see on the screen.

I highly recommend this compelling biographical historical fiction novel!

Anyone who's listened to our Strong Sense of Place episode about the theater knows that I love musicals. And my favorite might be 'The Sound of Music.' The music for the stage musical was written by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics are by Oscar Hammerstein. They based their story on a 1949 memoir written by the real-life Maria von Trapp.

When I was in our high school production of The Sound of Music, I played the eldest daughter Leisel. And I was, in fact, 16 going on 17. The boy who played Rolf was also a football player. It was a very Disney 'High School Musical' situation.

The live play is, obviously, great. But! My heart belongs to the film version from 1965 starring Julie Andrews as Maria. First of all, Julie Andrews is a goddess. Second, songs like 'I Have Confidence' and 'Do Re Mi' are bangers! And finally, there is no smolder like the smolder between Maria and the Captain when they do the Austrian folk dance at the big party. I mean... All of which to say, I was primed to enjoy the book 'Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp' by Michelle Moran.

In real life, Rodgers and Hammerstein took some liberties with the true story when they wrote their musical. This new novel is set in the 1950s, just before the Broadway debut of the show. It imagines the real-life Maria's reaction when she reads the script. It's not a spoiler to say that she's not happy with it. She wants to set the record straight about what really happened in the von Trapp mansion. So she strikes up a friendship with Hammerstein's secretary, and then tells her story.

The book opens with a prologue. It's a letter from Maria to Oscar Hammerstein, and the voice is SO Maria. I can hear Julie Andrews reading it. It says, in part, 'In January, I will be 55 years old. If statistics are to be believed, I can anticipate living another 20 years. It is my deepest wish not to spend those remaining years explaining how I never escaped from Austria by crossing the Alps into Switzerland, or how my eldest stepchild Rupert has never been a 16-year-old girl named Leisel.' She goes on to say she wants a meeting because she has, quote, 'several ideas on how the script can be fixed.'

Then the action moves to the Hamptons where we meet Oscar Hammerstein, and we're off to the races. This is an excellent summer read — snappy dialogue, girls with moxie, and vivid settings in 1950s New York and WWII Austria.

I should also mention that we're in good hands with this author. She's written eight historical novels that tell the untold story of other remarkable women, including Mata Hari, Nefertiti, and Madame Tussaud. This one is 'Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp' by Michelle Moran.

I recommended this book on my podcast The Library of Lost Time on July 26, 2024 - https://strongsenseofplace.com/lolts/lolt-2024-07-26/

The Sound of Music has always been a favorite film and I was excited to read this book. I did not realize there was a musical on broadway prior to the movie. It was interesting to read about the inner workings of Roger and Hammersteins production. It gave a glimpse of a part of New York history.

Maria von Trapp was an interesting character and her portrayal in the book surprised me. Her character was a much different person than represented in the movie. She seemed to be more authoritarian than her husband. She has interesting story without there having been a movie. She endured a lot before becoming Mrs. Van Tropp. I think the author was able to capture Maria's personality and make the reader believe it. We learn a lot about the family and the path they follow.

I think this would be an enjoyable book for those interested in historical fiction and music. While the story is somewhat biographical it reads more smoothly than most biographies. Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this novel.

I have long been a fan of Michelle Moran and of course her novels but this might be her best. I say that having absolutely loved Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen. I am also a Sound of Music stan and really had never thought much about how real life differed from the Hollywood version but it definitely did. Maria was a formidable woman but her childhood could make her harsh with her children but it some ways it is what made them survive the war. I loved the authors note and where are they now features. This will definitely be a top book of 2024 for me.

The Sound of Music has been an all-time favorite movie of mine since childhood. It's one of those films I've never grown tired of, and my mom played the soundtrack on so many long road trips that I can- and will- sing along to nearly every word of beloved songs such as "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" and "16 Going on 17." So I was immediately interested in reading this. Having read the liner notes from our soundtrack CD several years ago, I knew the film took some liberties with the Von Trapp family's real story (how sad I was to learn there was no Liesl - yet I was relieved that Rolf the Nazi telegram delivery boy was also a complete fabrication). But until now, I had never thought to research the lives of the actual Von Trapp family-- which is uncharacteristic for me, now that I think of it! Then again, as a Gen Xer, I didn't grow up with Google at my fingertips.

What I wasn't expecting was that the book would alternate storylines, time periods, and perspectives between Maria Von Trapp telling her story in first person to Fran Connelly, a fictionalized employee of Oscar Hammerstein, and the daily life and romantic entanglements of Fran herself. Fran's story, I'm sorry to say, was decidedly less interesting to me and her sudden success in publishing at the end of the story didn't seem very plausible to me.

What I liked:
+ getting to learn about Maria's life before she entered the abbey, learning of her upbringing and how she learned music, and her experience teaching school before she became a governess to the Von Trapps. Maria was an atheist in her early youth and converted to Catholicism while attending teachers' college. Moran effectively shows just how young and inexperienced the real Maria was, and how much larger the age difference was between her and Georg (25 years) than between Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music (only 6 years despite the attempts to make CP seem much older than 36 and JA's youthful appearance for 30). I liked learning what daily life for the VonTrapp children was like when Maria arrived, and which aspects she changed.
+ learning about the process of creating the Broadway musical, and learning a little bit about the personality of Oscar Hammerstein. I knew nothing about either, and I suppose this is one benefit of Fran's inclusion.
+ learning the correct timeline of when Maria and Georg married (Nov. 1927), which was actually long before the children began performing publicly (1935). Contrary to the dramatic scenes in the 1965 film, the Von Trapps fled Austria in late 1938 and didn't have to hike through the Alps to do so.

What didn't work for me:
+ (as I previously mentioned) going back and forth between Maria's real-life story and fictional Fran Connelly's life. I just wasn't very invested in Fran's story by the end, and I felt like her romantic life was irrelevant to the greater story being told. I felt skeptical of the timeline and process of her publishing deal.

What stuck with me:
+ The book shows the actual relationship dynamics between Maria and Georg. I confess to being a little disappointed that there was no swoon-worthy confession of love in a moonlit gazebo, as in the beautiful "Something Good" scene in the 1965 film. However, the actual proposal scene as it happened was rather funny-- and completely engineered by the children. Although I've always thought of the Captain's film persona as being strict, more out of grief and cluelessness about child development than because he was truly harsh or unkind, it was fascinating to hear how much gentler he was in real life. Maria and the children felt that the musical didn't do their father justice by making Maria look like the joyful, funny, practically perfect partner in their marriage. The children felt their father was the more nurturing parent.

+ I was puzzled by how Maria's personality and her relationship with the children seemed to change so dramatically after their marriage. She seems to have been a wonderful teacher in a local school before coming to live with the von Trapp children, and she often remarks how it was the children she fell in love with long before she truly grew to love their father. The same Maria who as governess insisted that they have more recreation time, outdoor play, and comfortable clothing became the mother who demanded that every one of the children practice and perform publicly very difficult pieces of music, regardless of their wishes. In particular, she was harsh with one of the youngest children (born to Maria and Georg some years after they wed) who had intense stage fright. She also interfered in one daughter's relationship with a potential suitor, with sad results.
While I imagine that the author doesn't precisely know the cause of Maria's change, I did note that after their marriage Maria was expected to not just be a mother and teacher to the children but also run the entire household without as much help. She was simultaneously also learning and trying to meet the social expectations of a wealthy captain's wife, something other women of status would have been prepared for from childhood. She struggled with kidney problems and fertility issues. Some scenes led me to think that she probably had ADHD at a time when she would have just been labeled difficult ("How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?" indeed) instead of having resources available to help. Her mother died when she was very small and she was raised by relatives, one of whom was a very cruel uncle, and she wasn't able to spend much time with her musician father before he too died. Given the tumult leading up to and during the Nazi invasion of Austria, having to flee the country and seek refuge abroad, she was certainly under a lot of stress.
+ Maria von Trapp did write a few books about her life, and I really would like to read at least one of them. Moran's novel indicates that Maria loved both performing and talking to people about her experiences, and I would be interested to compare Maria von Trapp's account to this book.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

By: Michelle Moran
Review Score: 5 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints
•I loved the time jumps as Fran and Maria tell their stories.

•The story from Maria’s point of view is so engaging.

•Moran weaves fact and fiction together so seamlessly.

•It was interesting to hear about Hammerstein, and how he wrote Edelweiss.

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Maria was kindly provided as an ARC by NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy this wonderful book!

Welcome to Five Star Friday!

I was so excited to read this book. I loved The Sound of Music as a kid, and I knew that it was somewhat based on a true story.

So when I saw this book pop up, and that it mentioned that, regardless of what the movie shows, things are not always what they seemed, I was immediately intrigued.

There are so many layers to this story as well, including Hammerstein’s cancer diagnosis, and how that impacted his music writing at the end of his life.

If you couldn’t tell, I absolutely loved this story. Fran’s dynamic at work, her interaction with Maria, and Maria’s own telling of her history, all weave together in such an amazing and engaging way.

All the stars. All of them.

If you enjoy reading the back story to favorite old movies, this book is for you. It's more than backstory, it tells all about the life of Maria Von Trapp. The Sound of Music was loosly based on her life story. In this book you'll experience what really happened and the truth is just as suspenseful as the movie. It is fascinating to see how Maria rose from a poor orphan, to the convent, then as an educator to one of Baron Von Trapp's children. They didn't really escape on foot over the Alps - the real story is more suspenseful and fascinating ! I couldn't put this book down! Maria Von Trapp was a strong hard working survivor who led her family to be world famous singers. And yet at the premier of The Sound of Music, she asked for only one ticket. What happened? Pick up this book and read her remarkable story, to find out.

Honestly, I was a tad apprehensive to read this title due to my enduring love of The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews and the music of Oscar Hammerstein - I grew up watching this and many other musicals with my grandfather, and the music and stories are a huge part of my life. However, I shouldn't have doubted Michelle Moran. This book was a delight, from the insider point of view of Fran, who worked in Rodgers and Hammerstein's office, to the "true" story coming directly from Maria von Trapp herself. Obviously, we were in for some tough truths, like the fact that Liesl was a fabrication (sorry, Rupert!), and that there was so much story just omitted after the family's escape from the Nazis in Austria, but it was a not only a joy to discover these truths, but to understand why they were eliminated in the first place.

I enjoyed the supporting story of Fran and her writing success, as well as her relationship struggles, just as much. She was a single professional woman in a time when that wasn't necessarily approved of by most people, and she was steadfast in her aspirations. I loved how supportive her boss Hammerstein was - that was a surprising relationship. And this time period is one of my favorites to read about - the descriptions of the fashions, for example, added a nice touch.

I understand why a fan of this musical, film, or family might not want to delve into a novel like this, but I think it goes a long way to dispel the misinformation out there while maintaining respect for the stories as they are known. I recommend giving it a shot! (and then watching the movie immediately thereafter, as I had to do!)

***Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the ARC!!***

This dual timeline novel flows with present time as Hammerstein creates the story of The Sound of Music, along with Maria’s original timeline as a young woman.

I actually like both timelines equally, and this isn’t typical! I found the modern timeline insightful into the creation of the beloved story, and I loved seeing behind the sound into Maria’s personal life. As the novel progresses it delves further and further into Maria’s existence during Nazi occupation in Austria and how her family resists, along with their deep pain.

If you love the Sound of Music, historical fiction, dual timelines, you will enjoy this one for sure!

This charming book is the real life story of Maria von Trapp, the matriarch of the famous von Trapp singers portrayed in "The Sound of Music." The book is set in the frame story of the final preparations for the show to open on Broadway. Maria is said to be upset at the failure of the script to accurately depict her husband's character and the true facts of her family's story. The narrative of Maria's early life shows a young girl living in an emotionally abusive home, deserted by her father. Continuing into her adult years, this book shows Maria's devotion to the Catholic Church and vocation as a teacher.

I enjoyed this book, but the build-up to showing a very different story than what was portrayed in the movie just didn't pay off. Given that a movie or play only has two hours to tell a story, it seemed that the movie was generally true to the real life story. The only major difference that I could see was that a Catholic priest shepherded the family through its development into a singing group, rather than the slick promoter filling this role in the movie and play. I would have liked to have known more about this pivotal character in the "real story," but he is given short shift in this book.

Nevertheless, this book is well worth reading for fans of The Sound of Music. For those of us of a certain age, this was THE movie of their childhoods. This historical novel contains many interesting tidbits and poignant scenes that make the "real story" all that much more meaningful to fans of the movie and play.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book. Readers who think they know Maria Von Trapp from their umpteenth viewing of the Sound of Music will be surprised and absorbed by Michelle Moran's fictional account. The novel intersperses Maria's narrative starting as an orphan in the final days of the Hapsburg Empire with a fictional account of Oscar Hammerstein's personal assistant assigned to "handle" an older Maria incensed about the portrayal of her marriage in the broadway debut of the Sound of Music. Moran draws on Maria's own writing as well as other historical documents to envision the reality of a poor novice sent to be a governess to a strict sea captain and offers a fresh take on the tropes of a contemporary historical novel.

This is a combination of fiction and non fiction about Maria von Trapp’s life that was then portrayed in one of the most watched and favorite musicals of all time, The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein. Michelle Moran was able to take the research she did into the story of all parties and work into a beautiful book telling stories from different views. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

In the 1950s Oscar Hammerstein was working on the lyrics of a musical being put together about a woman who was a former nun that got married and escaped Austria during WW2. Because the war is still fresh in many people’s minds, Hammerstein knows he needs to rework what she and the family went through to be accepted on Broadway. The problem is that Maria von Trapp is not happy in the way it is done and wants it written to tell the truth. In true form during that time and in some ways today, Hammerstein sends his secretary Fran to “work it out”. He wasn’t expecting though a friendship to form between the two ladies and some of her story to become not only part of that Broadway hit, but also on the screen and be in many people’s lives through multiple generations. This also proves to us that sometimes what we see on the stage and screen isn’t always what happened and in order to find out the true story we need to do some research ourselves before making the final judgement.

My memory is not what it used to be (not that it was ever all that great) so I can’t remember if I ever knew that the Sound of Music was based on a real-life family. So, if like me, you had no idea that it was based on an actual family, this story is especially eye opening!

I found this novel totally fascinating. While Maria is portrayed as the cheerful, singing character in the movie, she was actually not all that pleasant.

However, the struggles that she went through and how her life progressed from being a novice and planning to becoming a nun, to ending up in a large singing family is quite the story.

If you like historical fiction, based around a real person, this novel does not disappoint. It will make you want to watch the movie again!

Set in the 1950s, this book explores the life of Maria von Trapp after she finds out that her life is becoming a musical. She is on the hunt the track down Oscar Hammerstein. The drama begins to unfold. As always, I wish we had learned history from novels while in school. The truth is certainly worth reading.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music." These words are some of the most iconic lyrics from the opening scene of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "The Sound of Music." I couldn't help but hear these words as I first glanced at the beautiful front cover of Michelle Moran's novel- Maria. In this historical fiction novel, Maria von Trapp sees the script for "The Sound of Music" and sets off to discuss its inaccuracies with Oscar Hammerstein. He's too busy to talk to her, so instead Maria is told to express her concerns to his secretary Fran instead.

My favorite parts of the book were the chapters when Maria tells the "true story" of her family's history rather than the theater version. As Maria shares her story with Fran, I could feel myself cross referencing her story with the movie/play versions that I have seen multiple times throughout my lifetime. Maria's story is quite fascinating and I thought that the author's choice to have Maria share her story with Hammerstein's secretary was a creative way for some of the real facts of the von Trapp family to be shared with the fans of "The Sound of Music." I also enjoyed learning a few facts about Oscar Hammerstein too. "My heart wants to sing" out that this novel was amazing. This novel is a must read book for all aficionados of "The Sound of Music." Don't be suprised to find yourself humming Edelweiss at least once when you read it!

An ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read for me and I very much enjoyed the premise and execution.

The story follows Fran, a secretary/aide for Oscar Hammerstein, who is working on The Sound of Music. Maria von Trapp is not happy with the musical and wants Hammerstein to re-write it. Fran is dispatched to meet with Maria, hear her out and then tell her it can't be changed. Fran is swept up in Maria's story from her tragic childhood to her arrival at Nonnberg and then her arrival at the von Trapp family. It is a very different story from the musical and movie and it was interesting to see where they diverged and why.

The secondary story of Fran was good but her romantic entanglements were a bit off - they weren't well developed and could have been left out. But overall, I really enjoyed the story!

I enjoyed this very much. I’ve watched The Sound of Music movie more times than I can count, and I know words from every beloved song. I was fascinated with Maria’s story, and loved reading what movie scenes really occurred! Maria DID make play clothes from her curtains!

I want to read Maria’s autobiography now, because I was surprised by Von Trapp family experiences that were changed for the musical and movie…or completely left out.

It was also fun to get some insight into Oscar Hammerstein’s office and employees before the musical’s premiere. What a talented lyricist and successful businessman he was. The telling of his story by his fictional secretary, Fran, was well done by Michelle Moran.

Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at NetGalley for review.

One of my all time favorite movies was and still is The Sound of Music - it is a tradition to watch the movie during the Christmas season, not sure why since the movie release in March of 1965. Back in 1965 I even read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers written by the Baroness – which painted a somewhat different story then the one presented in the movie. Before the movie, The Sound of Music was a musical; music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, it opened in 1959 on Broadway starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel.

Maria by Michelle Moran is the story, historical fiction by nature, is Maria’s life story as told to Fran Connelly when one annoyed Maria von Trapp contacts Mr. Hammerstein about the inaccurate script about her life and that of her family. Through a serious of meeting Fran meets with Maria to listen and make notes on her suggestions. There is next to anything that Maria likes about this script especially when it comes to her husband Captain Georg von Trapp.

Michelle Moran alternates between two voices, that of Fran in 1959 in conversation with Maria and Maria telling her life story from 1913 through 1938. From that of a little girl in Kagran, Austria, to a young twenty-one year old postulant in the Nonnberg Abbey, to being sent to the von Trapp house for a ten month teaching assignment to finally becoming Baroness von Trapp with seven children and finally their escape in 1938 on the last train out of Austria to Italy. Maria also tells her story of her time in America, travelling the country as a singing family choir to finally buying a family farm in Vermont.

Maria was truly an interesting look at a family that was portrayed differently on stage and screen. About a lyricist, Hammerstein, that was dying of cancer and after reading Maria’s story decided ..

“But perhaps I have one more song to write. Something for all … All the difficult goodbyes.”

And that song is … Edelweiss.

Thank you, Michelle Moran, Dell and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was released on July 30, 2024.


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I've seen The Sound of Music countless times, so I couldn't help but picture Julie Andrews as I read this novel. Of course, I know that is the opposite of what the book wanted me to think, but I couldn't help it. This book is supposed to be about the differences between Maria's real story and the Rodgers and Hammerstein version. In fact, the story comes about as Maria is trying to get an assistant to the production team to rewrite the fictionalized version as she tells the assistant the "real" version. While still a fictional account of Maria's life, it still was different from the musical version we've all come to know. If you loved the movie, I recommend this book even if it's just to get more historical background than we ever saw with the glossed over Hollywood version.

Well, don't I feel like a dork. I had no idea that The Sound of Music was based on real people. Not sure how I missed that fact.

I found this to be interesting book. The Von Trapp family without a doubt did not have an easy life. Maria's early life was one that no child should endure. The fact that they were on the last train out of Austria before Germany closed the borders is profound.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.