Maria: A Novel of Maria von Trapp

Michelle Moran has long been one of my favourite historical fiction authors and I love how she focuses on strong women in history. So when I heard she had a new book coming out for the first time in years and it was about Maria von Trapp, I was ready to don a dirndl and twirl around in the Alps.

This book centres around the life of Maria von Trapp and the making of the popular stage musical The Sound of Music. Moran touches on Maria's difficult childhood, her brief stint in a nunnery and how she became a von Trapp. But it may be a rude awakening for people who thought the super popular movie with Dame Julie Andrews was true.

There is also a storyline set in the 1950's when the family's story, based on Maria's autobiography, caught the attention of Rodgers and Hammerstein who (loosely) used it as fodder for a stage musical. This timeline shows Maria in a different light - a more obstinate and negative person who is at odds with her now grown children. This part of the book is seen through the POV of Fran, Hammerstein's assistant who is tasked with getting Maria on board with the liberties he and Rodgers have taken with her family's story. This storyline wasn't my favourite. I wanted Maria's POV and it felt that Fran's storyline was only used simply to show the discrepancies between Maria's life and the movie/play.

This book was just okay for me, so it won't be right up there on my list of favourite things. I appreciate how Moran rips the Hollywood veil off the much loved musical and its surprising inaccuracies, but I think I went into it with too high expectations. While it gives an interesting viewpoint of von Trapp family history, it is probably a better pick for people who don't watch the famous movie each year. It was an interesting read but not as in-depth of a read as I've come to expect from Michelle Moran.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Michelle Moran

Genre: Historical Fiction

Type and Source: Paperback from public library

Publisher: Dell

First Published: July 30, 2024

Read: Aug 21 - 23, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: Maria von Trapp. You know the name and the iconic songs, but do you know her real story? This dramatic novel, based on the woman glamorized in The Sound of Music, brings Maria to life as never before.

In the 1950s, Oscar Hammerstein is asked to write the lyrics to a musical based on the life of a woman named Maria von Trapp. He’s intrigued to learn that she was once a novice who hoped to live quietly as an Austrian nun before her abbey sent her away to teach a widowed baron’s sickly child. What should have been a ten-month assignment, however, unexpectedly turned into a marriage proposal. And when the family was forced to flee their home to escape the Nazis, it was Maria who instructed them on how to survive using nothing but the power of their voices.

It’s an inspirational story, to be sure, and as half of the famous duo Rodgers & Hammerstein, Hammerstein knows it has big Broadway potential. Yet much of Maria’s life will have to be reinvented for the stage, and with the horrors of war still fresh in people’s minds, Hammerstein can’t let audiences see just how close the von Trapps came to losing their lives.

But when Maria sees the script that is supposedly based on her life, she becomes so incensed that she sets off to confront Hammerstein in person. Told that he’s busy, she is asked to express her concerns to his secretary, Fran, instead. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as Maria tells Fran about her life, contradicting much of what will eventually appear in The Sound of Music.

A tale of love, loss, and the difficult choices that we are often forced to make, Maria is a powerful reminder that the truth is usually more complicated—and certainly more compelling—than the stories immortalized by Hollywood.