Set in Mexico at the time of World War II, The Music Within is a tale of ambition and pride, of love and death that takes the reader from the poorest Mexican peasant home to the palaces of the rich. "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast," wrote Congreve, and, as this novel shows, music has the power to kindle the savage passions that excite the hearts of men and women everywhere.
Music sounds from every page and the characters here march to its insistent beat: Nando, talented, handsome and poor, not above marrying the money he needs to launch a career; Josefina, gentle, awkward, daughter of one of Mexico's most powerful men, ready to give herself to a man she knows does not love her; Ana, whose beautiful voice carries all the warmth her cold heart lacks; Pico, flamboyantly in love with music and disastrously in love with love; Fausto, in love with nothing but his own all-consuming ambition.
Elizabeth Borton de Treviño, who is herself an accomplished violinist, lives in Mexico and here she draws upon her knowledge of music and musicians (and the land itself) to create the memorable characters whose adventures are played out in these pages. The result is a colorful and romantic novel offering revealing glimpses of the rich diversity of Mexican life.
Mrs. Treviño, a native of Bakersfield, California, graduated from Stanford University. Two of her earlier books, My Heart Lies South and Where the Heart Is, are autobiographical accounts of the life of a woman from the United States as wife and mother in Mexico. She has written several previous novels, including The House on Bitterness Street and The Fourth Gift.
JACKET BY WENDELL MINOR
—from the dust jacket
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