AustLit

When Richard Wagner died in Venice in 1883, it was the end of a creative and tumultuous life. His family grieved, and the world lost a brilliant composer. Nearly 130 years later antiques dealer Nic Manton is led to a valuable pendant he feels provides a solution to his precarious finances. With no idea of its meaning or provenance, he is mystified why the pendant creates such fear and confusion, and aggravates rather than solves his problems. Its apparent owner is beautiful but erratic. As she leads him from Rome to Venice and then to Malta, Austria and Germany, Manton becomes increasingly aware that there is a perplexing secret about Richard Wagner’s life and works, and that this secret is also dangerous. A melancholic widow and a brilliant but vague professor are willing to help. But Manton doubts whether they can.

The Hidden Auditorium is a companion novel to According to Luke (2011). Both works feature the secondary character Prof Bryn Awbrey, an expert in semiotics ('Rosanne Dingli, The Hidden Auditorium And Why Writing Never Ends,' interview with Nick Wales 2013).

[Source: Yellow Teapot Books]