The Moonlit Garden

Corina Bomann's The Moonlit Garden instantly intrigued me when I read the book description so I knew I had to read it. I absolutely love reading historical fiction and I studied music for a long time growing up so I couldn't wait to start reading this book! As soon as I started it, I had a hard time putting it down and I tore through it within less than two days. I was also interested to see that The Moonlit Garden had originally been written in German and then translated into English by Alison Layland. In my experience, not all translated novels read as smoothly and beautifully as this one and, at just over 400 pages, The Moonlit Garden is an exquisitely-crafted novel that will appeal to historical fiction fans alike.

Lilly Kaiser is in her late thirties and owns an antique shop in Berlin, Germany. She is working in her shop on a seemingly normal day when a mysterious elderly gentleman walks in to show her a violin, claiming it belongs to her. Before she can ask him any more questions, he disappears into thin air and Lilly is left to figure out the mystery behind the beautiful antique violin with the symbol of a rose on the back and a piece of sheet music tucked into the violin's case. Suddenly, Lilly's life has been altered and she has been given a new purpose of tracing down the history of the violin and why would have received it. Before she knows it, she is on a whirlwind journey over multiple continents to discover what happened so long ago to the violin's original owner.

Beautifully written and flawlessly translated, The Moonlit Garden is a wonderful historical fiction novel that kept me thoroughly engaged over the past two days. I stayed up way too late and hardly did anything else other than read this book and I loved every single minute of it! I loved this novel so much that it will stay with me for a long time and I would definitely be interested in reading another of Corina Bomann's novels. I highly recommend The Moonlit Garden for anyone who enjoys historical fiction!