Review of Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp by Michelle Moran

I was hooked on the behind-the-scenes feeling of Moran's historical-fiction conversations between Maria von Trapp and an assistant to Oscar Hammerstein.

In Michelle Moran's novel Maria, she uses two timelines to shape the story of the real woman behind Julie Andrews's legendary depiction in The Sound of Music.

In the past, richly built period, we track Maria's path from the nunnery to her position at the heart of the von Trapp family.

In the 1950s timeline, Oscar Hammerstein is striving to bring Maria's story to life on the stage--but is tempted to rework some of the facts to heighten its impact. The demanding, exacting, elderly Maria insists that the depiction track more closely with her real life, and she furiously shares detailed notes with Fran, an up-and-coming young assistant in Hammerstein's office.

I was fascinated by the script and production's departures from the facts within the story--most of which track with the movie version--which Maria highlights in her conversations with Fran. For example, the depiction of the Captain in the script at hand is as the family disciplinarian, but Maria asserts that she was the more strict and demanding parent. The family's singing is romanticized, but Maria reveals that one daughter had extreme anxiety about performing, and that while the singing was well received by the American public, the grueling touring schedule was rooted in a desperate bid to put food on the table for the family when few other prospects existed.

A minor note regarding the modern timeline: Fran's love interest is petty, jealous, chauvinistic, and unappealing--the end of the relationship seems to come far later than it should.

This is compelling reading, and for all who consider The Sound of Music sacred holiday viewing (and an essential singalong opportunity) like I do, it's irresistible to learn more about Maria through the "behind the scenes" feeling of the book.

I listened to Maria as an audiobook.

Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book?

Michelle Moran is also the author of Cleopatra's Daughter.