Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Kingdom of Back | 2020 | Marie Lu | Buy |
Marie Lu’s standalone fiction includes The Kingdom of Back (2020), a historical fantasy about Nannerl Mozart. The novel imagines Mozart’s talented older sister making a bargain with a mysterious stranger to gain the recognition the eighteenth century denied women musicians.
The book draws on real history. Nannerl was a gifted performer who toured Europe with her younger brother as a child but was expected to stop playing publicly once she reached marriageable age. Lu blends those facts with a fantasy realm called the Kingdom of Back, where Nannerl’s choices carry real consequences. Readers familiar with Lu’s Legend and Warcross series will find a different tone here, quieter and more personal, but the same attention to a protagonist fighting against the limits placed on her.