Date: 2025-Present
Type: Novel
Summary: A historical fiction series set in early-20th-century Germany about a young woman who aspires to be a professional violinist.
The Gift is a tetralogy (or a quartet, if you prefer) that opens with a young woman’s quest to be a professional violinist in the rigid, conservative world of classical music in early-1900s Germany, then follows the story of her and her family through the rest of the 20th century.
My role mostly consisted of stylistic editing and copy editing, but I also flagged areas of the plot that wanted improvement. The most significant example of this so far occurred in the first book, The Well-Tempered Violinist, where I helped expand the protagonist’s romance arc so that it developed more naturally.
The Gift has been an excellent exercise in breadth for me. Historical fiction is a genre I don’t read often; I tend to gravitate towards fantasy and science fiction. The best stories in any genre have vivid characters with compelling goals and plots with a strong emotional heart, but fantasy and sci-fi also tend to involve solving your problems by hitting them with a sword or shooting them with a laser gun. While the lack of literal magic pushed me out of my comfort zone, it also forced me to distill the story and focus on the characters to a level that can be difficult to maintain when there are new worlds, cultures, and (space) magic systems to explore.
Pictures coming soon!