Hidden Voices

May 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-The quest for love and belonging motivates the three teens who tell this engrossing story set in the early 1700s in Venice at the Ospedale dell Pieta, an orphanage and home for abandoned girls. Marriage or a life in the church is the only future that these girls can hope for. Antonio Vivaldi, a character in this fictional account, wrote much of his music at the Ospedale and was responsible for teaching music to a select segment of the girls. Each chapter is told by Anetta, Luisa, or Rosalba, all well-drawn and believable characters. They all seek love in different ways. Despite their disadvantaged backgrounds, they show great inner strength. Luisa has a magnificent voice, which could attract a fine prospect for marriage, but she hopes her talent will snare the attention and affection of her mother, who abandoned her. Rosalba is an incurable romantic who refuses to be confined by the walls of the Ospedale and takes great risks in her pursuit. Anetta nurtures the younger girls at the institution and is intensely devoted to Rosalba and especially to Luisa. Near the end of the book there is a hint that Anetta's attraction to Luisa may be romantic. Collins's descriptive prose makes Venice and a unique slice of history come alive as the three connecting narrative strains create a rich story of friendship and self-realization."Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2009
Grades 8-10 Vivaldi composes music and conducts concerts performed by girls at the Ospedale della Piet, an early eighteenth-century Venetian orphanage that features rigorous musical training. Changing narrators chapter by chapter, the absorbing story is told by three of the young musicians, 15-year-olds Anetta and Rosalba, and Luisa, who is nearly 14 when the novel begins. Early in the story, Anetta dotes on Luisa, who bridles at her friends over-attentive manner, while both feel concern for high-spirited Rosalba, who neglects her duties and longs for romance. Each girl undergoes changes through the course of the novel: Anetta channels her feelings for Luisa into other directions; Luisa endures a near-fatal illness and enjoys a brief love affair; and Rosalba grows up quickly after a rape makes it impossible for her to return to the orphanage. With its unique setting, vivid musical themes, and sharply realized characters, this historical novel is well worth reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2009
In eighteenth-century Venice, orphans Anetta, Rosalba, and Luisa are students of Antonio Vivaldi. Fretful, kind Anetta fixates on rules; impetuous Rosalba plots a romance; and Luisa exists at a remove, stirred by music alone. Collins expertly delineates the subtle psychological damages inflicted by such a cold, albeit lavish, existence--set against a well-researched evocation of a vibrant period of musical history.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2009
Anetta, Rosalba, and Luisa, raised at the Ospedale della Pieta, aren't your stereotypical literary orphans. Cloistered away from the bustle and spectacle of eighteenth-century Venice, the friends lead privileged but sheltered lives as students in the Ospedale's demanding music program, with Antonio Vivaldi himself as their teacher. But as the three grow into adulthood and begin to encounter the outside world, they also grow apart. Fretful, kind Anetta fixates on rules and obsessively devotes herself to her friends (Luisa especially) and nursery charges; impetuous Rosalba chafes at the "staid and regulated life we lead within two cold, damp buildings" and plots a romance with a young man she has only ever seen at a distance; and Luisa, whose courtesan mother still makes perfunctory visits, exists at a remove, stirred by music alone. The historical setting, impressively detailed, is richly exotic, yet the emotional landscape will be quite familiar, particularly Rosalba's sense of entrapment and Luisa and Anetta's painfully imbalanced friendship. Though the languid pace and sprawling plot may limit the audience for Hidden Voices, readers who persevere will be rewarded with an expert delineation of the subtle psychological damages inflicted by such a cold, albeit lavish, existence -- set against a well-researched evocation of a vibrant period of musical history. An author's note addresses the history behind the story.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)