 Welcome. "When Your Song Breaks the Silence" is a historical novel by Natalie Jacobs about the life of Franz Schubert. Natalie's family published it on May 14, 2012 as a Kindle e-book and in mid-June in a Smashwords edition. Natalie died suddenly in 2008. Read the "story behind the book." You can buy the book here. The book is listed in GoodReads. On July 14, 2012, the online Ann Arbor Chronicle published a truly wonderful article all about this publishing endeavor, written by its book columnist, Domenica Trevor. Be sure to read it. We're thrilled that Kirkus has given the book a generally very favorable review. And in March, 2013, IndieReader also reviewed it favorably, awarding it four stars and its "seal of approval." They posted their review on their site and in the Customer Reviews section of the book's Amazon listing (we encourage you to review it there too). These and several other reviews are here in full. -------- In this work of creative nonfiction, Franz Schubert's life and times come alive through his own eyes. He is a shy, self-deprecating man, unsure of himself socially but fully confident of his musical gifts and of the lasting importance of his symphonies, songs, and chamber pieces in the face of an indifferent public. Here is a colorful picture of Viennese artistic life in the first quarter of the nineteenth century and of the actual people in Schubert's short life: his musical colleagues, friends, family and lovers. In this poignant, moving story of the great composer, we look into his mind and heart as he creates the music we know and love today. Read more here. -------- On this site you can read an excerpt entitled "An die Freude." This chapter from the novel was published in Battered Suitcase magazine in December 2010. And Schubert himself is here in spirit. In A Musical Companion you can listen to the music mentioned in the book as you read it. YouTube performances and lieder translations are graciously furnished by Penelope Crawford. Thank you for visiting this site. Please visit our Facebook Fan Page too. -------- About the title: Natalie hadn't named her novel, so after searching among the hundreds of Schubert's songs, we found a line from one of them entitled "Der Einsame" ("The Solitary" or "The Hermit"). The lovely song appears on the Musical Companion page on the sidebar. About the cover: The cover of "When Your Song Breaks the Silence," designed by Judith Jacobs (Natalie's mother), bears a photograph of the house in Vienna where Schubert died. Natalie had written part of her novel at the time when her parents traveled to Vienna in 1995. We made a special excursion to the site to be able to bring this photo to Natalie. It was spring and the lilac bush in the courtyard was in full bloom. All material on this site copyright © Stanley and Judith Jacobs, 2012-2014 |