How do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, if you're Oscar Hammerstein, you assign a secretary to keep her occupied so she can't complain about how the musical version of The Sound of Music differs from her actual life. Michelle Moran's novel Maria examines the life of the real Maria Von Trapp - from her difficult upbringing, to her marrying a real life sea captain, their blended family becoming a musical sensation, and finally their life becoming a musical that sugar-coated the harsh realities of escaping from the nazis. The novel centers around the real life Maria Von Trapp being made aware that her family's story was being turned into a musical by Rogers and Hammerstein. Maria wants the musical to reflect more of her family's real life details, which gets in the way of Rogers and Hammerstein's creative process.
They assign a secretary named Fran an aspiring writer, to take down Maria's suggestions (and keep Maria otherwise occupied.) As Maria tells her Trapp tale, Fran is enraptured by Maria's story of an abusive upbringing by an uncle, her commitment to teaching and to becoming a nun, and her unlikely marriage to a dashing widowed sea captain and becoming the stepmother to his seven children (SHE REALLY DID MAKE THE KIDS CURTAIN PLAYCLOTHES!!!!!) Moran reveals the girl underneath the wimple and the wife, mother, performer, and entrepreneur she became (upon retirement from music the Trapp Family opened an inn and music camp in Vermont.) Readers won't want to say "so long, farewell, auf wiedersein, goodbye" to this moving novel.
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