Mary Mageau

"In feeling the harshness of those times for many unfortunate individuals, a great many of whom were only guilty of being a member of the French aristocracy, the ending serves to embrace the goodness (and sanity) of humankind." - Michele Doucette, Author of A Travel in time to Grand Pre

"This delightful and well researched story, set amid the French Revolution, sees the joy of beautiful music triumphing over the misery and suffering of war. An uplifting story for readers of all ages." - Penny Garnsworthy

From her earliest years, music left its mark on the destiny of Laneve de Nervode. Regarded as one of France’s finest concert pianists, the brilliance of her playing saved her from the guillotine. Her marriages to the Marquis de Marais, and the Count de Charnade, together with her successful teaching career at the newly established Paris Conservatory of Music, allowed her to survive the violence and bloodshed of the French Revolution.

About the Author

Mary Mageau is an award-winning composer and writer. Born and educated in the United States, she has lived in Australia since 1974. Her writings in the Japanese verse forms of haiku, tanka and haibun are published in the United States by Red Moon Press, The MET Press and Kei Books. Mary's poetry also appears in American, Canadian and Australian anthologies and literary journals: Gusts, Atlas Poetica, Eucalypt, Take Five, Paper Wasp and Yellow Moon. In 2010 Blemish Books, published twenty of her haibun poems in Triptych Poets, Volume I. 

Mary also loves to travel, gathering stories for her historical fiction. Two romances, The Trousseau and An Antique Brooch, explore the early South Pacific settlements of New Caledonia and Norfolk Island during the 1850s and 60s. A third novella, In the Eye of a Storm, is set in Paris during the time of the French Revolution while her latest book, Vanquished, unfolds in medieval France during the Catholic Church's persecution of the Cathars in Languedoc. These four novellas are written for young adults and general readers alike. 

Visit Mary's blog, Nature as Art and Inspiration, at http://marymageau.wordpress.com