Pairing the seductive appeal of a legendary composer with the coming of age of a violin prodigy, Quicks enthralling new novel recreates Vivaldis Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence.

In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and composer. Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della Pietà as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the year the entire city is masked and cloaked in the anonymity of Carnival, nothing is as it appears to be. A virtuoso performance in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vivaldi's Virgins is a fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.

Berkeley, 1972: a hotbed of creativity where painters, filmmakers, musicians, and writers inspire a young poet. Second-wave feminism, inspired by Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, and Betty Friedan is swelling into a tsunami. Women are joining together to change power dynamics in politics, the home, and the workplace. On election day, Joan Gelfand casts her vote for George McGovern and boards a plane from New York to California. With one introduction to a woman musician, Joan’s journey to become a writer is born. Embraced by a thriving women’s community of artists, filmmakers, musicians, poets, and writers, Joan is encouraged to find her voice. Mentored by paradigm-changing writers, Joan finds the courage to face her darkest fears through poetry and art, mining the trauma she experienced after losing her father and questioning her Jewish identity. Reminiscent of Paris in the twenties, Greenwich Village in the sixties, and Berlin in the eighties, Berkeley in the seventies was the “it” city of America. Outside Voices reports the ups and downs of finding one’s way as an artist, living with a women’s band, forging an independent Jewish identity, founding a women’s restaurant, and becoming a published writer and songwriter while exploring the limits of sexuality and spirituality. The story includes road trips to music festivals in the woods, beaches in Mexico, concerts in Southern California, and a retreat in the Pacific Northwest. A triumphant story of determination and will, Outside Voices is a backstage look at the women’s movement that sets the stage for decades of change. This book is a firsthand look at how the power of community emboldened innovation, social change, and self-discovery.

The Almagre Review is a Colorado literary journal devoted to the art of storytelling in the written form. We feature fiction, poems, essays, memoirs, artwork and interviews. We publish new voices alongside established ones. Come join the narrative that tells the story of our region.

Dr. Kate Matthews is twenty-nine years old and is still a virgin. A child prodigy who studied through her adolescence, Kate skipped the normal rites of passage and instead went on to become the youngest neurosurgeon in North America. But when Kate's younger sister Lacy discovers her sister’s secret, Lacy convinces Kate that she must lose her virginity in the next two weeks leading up to her thirtieth birthday which falls on the same day of the biggest surgery of her career. Enter Dr. Bodhi Wells, an internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon who is selected to work alongside Kate on the important surgery. Handsome and intelligent, Bodhi quickly ignites Kate’s competitive nature, sexual desires, and ultimately her heart. With the pressure on, Kate is forced to face the fears that have kept her from doing “it” and finally decide if she is ready and willing to brave uncharted waters that exist in a world that seems filled with many experienced swimmers and even a few sharks. Fall in love with Kate Matthews, as you tag along with her and her free spirited sister Lacy on their original, funny, and heartwarming journey of self-discovery, sex, and falling in love for the first time.

The female musicians of the Instituto della Pietà play from a gallery in the church, their faces half hidden by metal grilles. They live segregated from the world. Cecilia, is a violinist who, during anguished, sleepless nights, writes letters to the mother she never knew, haunted by her and hating her by turns. She eats little and cannot sleep. But things begin to change when a new violin teacher arrives at the institute. The astonishing music of Vivaldi, the 'Red Priest', electrifies her and changes her attitude to life, compelling her to make a courageous choice.

Antonio Vivaldi's rediscovery after World War II quickly led him from obscurity to his present renown as one of the most popular 18th-century composers. Heller's biography presents the important facets of his life, his works, and his influence on music history.