ELLY ROBIN

Quaver’s fifth volume in his The Ordeals of Elly Robin series brings his irrepressible protagonist to Chicago just before America’s entry into World War I.

It’s 1915, and teen prodigy Elly Robin, 15, has driven her Stanley Steamer motorcar from New Orleans to Chicago to study with piano virtuoso Maestro Vitorio Bellini. During a concert engagement in New Orleans, Bellini discovered Elly while she was the piano player in a bordello he was visiting. Impressed by the young girl’s exceptional skill on the keyboard, and seriously inebriated, he offered to be her mentor should she ever come to Chicago. Bellini’s sister, with whom he lives, arranges for Lillian LaSalle, wife of wealthy clothing manufacturer Franklin LaSalle, to be Elly’s patron. Lillian is to be responsible for instructing the socially awkward Elly in the social graces, necessary if she is to become a world-famous pianist, while Bellini schools her in the musical subtleties of the great classical composers. Elly—orphaned at 6 during the San Francisco earthquake and left to her own devices after fleeing an abusive children’s asylum—enters the LaSalle mansion and finds herself surrounded by unimagined luxury. The LaSalle children, especially Wilhelmina (“Willy”), treat her with hostility. But, as Elly learns, beneath the glittering exterior, the LaSalle family harbors dark secrets, mysteries that our young hero, who always keeps a sheathed stiletto hidden in her bodice, plans to unearth. Elly has her own secrets, a past she must keep hidden if she is to succeed within society. When Lillian hires tutor Carrie Gunther to teach Elly the foreign languages she’ll need for world tours, she unwittingly brings a rebel into the LaSalle household, someone who will expose Elly to the burgeoning labor movement plus a group of Anarchists, an association that puts Elly’s position, and possibly even her life, in danger.

Although followers of the series will know Elly’s backstory, those new to the saga must wait patiently for the details to be revealed gradually, especially when significant characters from her past reappear in the current volume. Quaver, a retired professional pianist, adeptly portrays the power of music to transport both artist and audience. Readers unfamiliar with the classical music references will still feel the intensity of Elly’s performances, although Quaver compromises the impact with too much repetition. As the author cautions in his opening notes, dialogue reflects the linguistics of the period, including offensive racial and ethnic slurs. These choices contribute to a realistic rendering of Chicago’s economic, social, and ethnic diversity and tensions in the early 20th century. The novel seamlessly blends historical figures and fictional characters. For example, Elly’s interactions with an aging and alcoholic Jack London and a fiery Emma Goldman add spice to the narrative. Her romantic liaison with Edwin Friend, aviation enthusiast and one of society’s most eligible bachelors, supplies poignancy and a bit of humor in a tale that culminates with a breathless, page-turning chase through the streets of Chicago, leading Elly straight into the next installment of this continuing saga. Quaver’s black-and-white drawings accompany the text.

Packed with history, intrigue, and social controversy, along with well-crafted action scenes.