Product Description

Backstage at a Viennese opera house of which he's now a patron, a foundling who was discovered wrapped in a blanket on a Newcastle dockside meets and falls in love with an Austrian princess who is working incognito as a humble wardrobe mistress. The author is a winner of Romantic Novelists' Award.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #821937 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Enchanting, funny and absolutely wonderful
If you already like Eva Ibbotson then the only recommendation you need is that this book shows her at her glorious best. If you don't know her, then you have such a pleasure in store.

Tessa is an elfin, enchanting girl who is working her fingers to the bone as the under wardrobe mistress for an opera company in Vienna in the 1920s. The whole chaotic company relies on her and everyone adores her. One day Guy Farne, a hugely talented and successful English businessman, comes to visit the opera company to hire them for a private performance of Mozart's Magic Flute. The funny and touching story which follows evokes beautifully the glorious Austrian countryside, and the impoverished aristocrats who inhabit its increasingly dilapidated castles. There is the usual supporting cast of charming but wilful children, wayward dogs, devoted retainers, and eccentric artists. And a few awful snobs to throw obstacles in our heroine's way. Lots of plot and lots of humour.

My thirteen year old daughter and I thought it was absolutely wonderful.

Love Eva Ibbotson, love this novel
It is spring 1922 in Vienna and Tessa, a princess who owns a fairy castle, runs away to work back-stage at the opera. As in most fairy stories, there is a prince - well, not quite, actually just an Englishman who has managed to acquire money and status. There are, of course, obstacles in the way of their relationship but, guess what, they manage to overcome them.

This is a love story that I (or, rather, my wife) very much enjoyed as a lovely romantic novel. Opera, fireworks, the beautiful fiancée of the "prince" and some history - all are thrown into the pot.

Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna, knows its history well, and it shows. The book is aimed at younger adults but is delightful and will appeal to a wide audience.

A Real Keeper
Years ago, right in the midst of his scholarly studies, Guy Farne arrived in Vienna. And he fell in love. A foundling from Newcastle, he had no connections, no prospects and the family of his beloved dismissed him out of hand. But he could never forget the things his lady wanted - jewels, riches, servants, castles and the company of princes. Ever since he has channelled his considerable intelligence and energy into making his fortune, and after a chance meeting with his long-lost love, perhaps he finally has a chance to claim all he desires.

A return to Vienna, the purchase of a castle and the plans for a week long party, in which his beloved will finally get the chance to rub shoulders with princes in the height of luxury, is just the beginning of Guy's plans. But it is the opera that matters to him, and what better company to invite than the International Opera Company.

Tessa longs for equality for all, to do away with the rigid structure of nobility, and in art she believes she has found the way. For Tessa is a princess, the last of her line, but when poverty forces her to sell her beloved castle, Pfaffenburg, to Guy, little does she know her life is about to change for ever.

As always, Eva Ibbotson presents a beautiful story, filled with the richness of a forgotten Europe, in the lost time between WW1 and WW2. She evokes a melancholy feel of a failing aristocracy, colliding with the power and finance of the capitalist world. But all of that is just background music to a touching story in which two people find each other, share moments of wonder, companionship and tenderness, and inevitably fall in love. It's just a shame that Guy is supposed to be marrying someone else, and everyone else assumes Tessa is already engaged.

Woven in amongst the main pairs troubles and triumphs, Ibbotson always produces a supporting cast to savour - Tessa's two tantes and their aging pug; the workers and artists of the opera house, in particular Boris and The Mother; Maxi, his dogs and his mother, the Swan Princess; Guy's foster mother, Martha - who keep the action rolling along, with their warm-hearted affection and brilliant eccentricities. They also provide a startling contrast to greedy Nerine and the social climbing snobbery of her family.

Woven in with the passionate world of opera, Guy and Tessa's tale is a gorgeous and gentle love story that was made to be savoured. Eva Ibbotson is fabulous.