Their father, Leopold Mozart, dotes on Woferl, teaching him not only the harpsichord, but also the violin. But because Woferl is a boy, Nannerl is constantly overshadowed by him. With time and encouragement from Woferl, she eventually goes against her father’s wishes to compose - a skill seen as undesirable in women. In “The Kingdom of Back,” Nannerl is portrayed as a musician and composer who’s just as capable - if not more so - than Woferl. In her book, Lu reimagines Back, tying the fantasy elements to the history that she had gathered from letters and biographies. There’s a twist though: In real life, Nannerl and Wolfgang entertained themselves by imagining themselves as queen and king of a made-up world known as the Kingdom of Back. The entire book is from Nannerl’s perspective of growing up in a society where the number of her performances are limited, and women aren’t allowed to compose.

The novel follows the Mozart siblings, known as Nannerl and Woferl, through their childhood years on the road and performing for various royal courts across Europe. Although “The Kingdom of Back” has fantasy elements, it is the first time Lu has forayed into historical fiction.

In the past, she’s written dystopian, fantasy and science fiction, including the “Legend” trilogy, “The Young Elites” trilogy and the “Warcross” duology. The book didn’t initially interest publishers, and Lu spent the last 12 years continually returning to the book to make it work. Published in March, “The Kingdom of Back” is Lu’s 11th book, but it is the first book she ever got an agent for. Marie Lu’s newest book, “The Kingdom of Back,” perfectly illustrates how history has forgotten Maria Anna Mozart, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was just as talented at performing and composing music as her brother. But Woolf didn’t need to create a fictional character to prove her point. Because of patriarchy and the long-standing belief that only boys should go to school, women rarely had the chance to develop their talents and be remembered by history. In “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf explores a fictional character, Judith Shakespeare, to demonstrate the idea that a woman with Shakespeare’s gifts would have been denied the opportunity to develop her skills.

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu