Unbowed

Alexia Jewel, a beautiful, intelligent, famous classical music conductor, approaching her 50th birthday. She had to fight against convention for years to follow her dream.

Four men who all desire her. A mysterious great-grandmother. An antique, rare, green diamond ring.

And a stalker.

Only six months but six tumultuous months in Alexia’s life.

Alexia is invited to participate in the BBC’s show Who do you think you are? and through it, she slowly uncovers the mystery of the diamond ring and her great-grandmother’s secret. The stalker makes her life hell but she is determined to continue her successful, celebrated music career in Europe and the States without disruption. While Alexia bows to the music and her audience, she vows never to bow to the stalker and to face consequences head on.

My Review...

I have read other M G da Mota books. All are very different and yet some have similarities. The first similarity that comes to mind is a strong female character. The second is the arts. She is good at winding the subjects into her stories. This time in Unbowed she has painted a darker sort of picture. Her stories are all good but this one with its suspense seemed to grab me more. Hold on to my attention.

In my other reviews, I have mentioned that this author seems to have a strength in building characters.  Unbowed is no different, yet this time we have a talented female musician in a world where females didn’t exist. A music progeny and one who also intends to be a conductor, something very unheard of even now, much less when Alexia starts out. There were many threads running through this story, but each one seemed to intrigue me, never confuse me. Actually, it all just made me want more.

Read an excerpt...

Alexia never made a secret about her preference to live abroad. Understandably the British public and the British press had repaid her in the same way, openly criticising her work and attacking her on social media. However, now she was the first woman conductor to obtain top positions in one of the world’s great opera houses and in a leading symphonic orchestra their attitude had changed and she could do no wrong. Her birthday concerts in London were already sold out. Alexia felt a sting. Everyone seemed so proud of her nowadays but for years she’d had to fight against family, peers, teachers, professors – everyone – to be accepted and taken seriously.

‘Women conductors? What nonsense.’

The same two phrases coupled together had rung in her ears countless times. Was she different at fifty than at twenty-five or thirty? A few grey hairs and a couple of wrinkles probably betrayed her age but her enthusiasm, energy and determination were the same. She hadn’t changed since her fifteenth birthday when announcing for the first time she wanted to become a conductor. Her family chuckled without exception and one of them said aloud what all were thinking, ‘girls don’t do that.’ But her personality, ideas, attitude to life and professionalism were the same now she was about to turn fifty.

Alexia was born at precisely 8:37 a.m. on 5th February 1965, the fifth child of Annette and Jonathan Jewel. After the birth of their youngest son Daniel, her parents had decided the family was complete. Four boys were more than enough.

about M G da Mota...

M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.

 

Website: https://www.flowingprose.com/

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/m.g.da.mota

 

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Video trailer for UNBOWED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9d91bySrI

 

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