Three things I loved about The Mozart Code by Rachel McMillan
Swoon with a capital S...and spies! Read the ReviewI preordered Rachel McMillan’s new book immediately after reading The London Restoration at the end of last year. The Mozart Code picks up where that book left off, in post war Vienna, a city that is divided, starving and a battleground for ideologies…and spies!
What’s it about?
The story focuses on Simon Barrington and Sophia Huntington-Villiers. Not that they would want you to use those names. They are bound together by past experience, mutual trust and a little piece of paper that Sophie keeps tucked behind the sherry decanter. Simon, a former chess champion, and Sophie are involved in various clandestine activities in post-war Vienna. He’s there at the behest of the British government, while she tracks down art and artefacts scattered across Europe by war. Together, they navigate secrets, lies, hidden agendas and dodgy allegiances to find the death mask of Mozart and work out who is trying to move the pieces of war torn Europe about like pieces on a chessboard.
Here are the three things I loved:
1 – Vienna
Vienna is a character in this book. If you follow McMillan on Instagram for any length of time, you will know she adores the city. She’s previously written several books set in modern day Vienna and her love for it spills across every page. While the London Restoration had Christopher Wren’s architecture as a lens to understand post-war London, this book sees Vienna through the cultural lens of Mozart. It’s an intriguing way to understand a city. I’ve never been to Vienna, but I feel like I know it a bit better now.
2 – Post-war intrigue and spies
The scale of destruction in Europe–physical as well as cultural–is almost unfathomable from our priviledged postion of hindsight. Vienna is physically divided, but is also at the centre of a giant struggle to determine who will be culturally dominant as the city rebuilds. Will Communism take hold? Will the Americans have their New World way? Propoganda and soft-diplomacy are rife in this war of ideas…and spies (including our protagonsists) lurk in plain sight. The book isn’t necessarily a tale of Cold War suspense, but I enjoyed how that simmering tension impacted the romance.
3 – Marriage of Convenience trope
This trope has grown on me more and more over the years and this is one of the best workings of it I’ve read. It wasn’t forced, didn’t feel fabricated. I liked the way it was slowly revealed. Simon and Sophie were wonderful, strong, memorable characters and the mounting tension between them drew me through. The love scene where the tension broke was beautifully realised with just the right amount of detail. Swoon with a capital S.
Romance Rating
Five out of five love hearts for perfectly crafted closed door romance.
