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The Maestro and Her Protégé
The Maestro and Her Protégé

The Maestro and Her Protégé

0-3

FICTION

376 Pages, 5 x 7.75

Formats: Trade Paper, EPUB

Trade Paper, $19.99 (US $19.99) (CA $26.99)

Publication Date: October 2025

ISBN 9781963614121

Rights: WOR

Blackwater Press (Oct 2025)

eBook

eBook Editions Available

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Overview

Step into the compelling world of The Maestro and Her Proté gé , a richly woven tale of music, mentorship, and personal transformation. This evocative novel follows Hannah Schaeffer, a fictional trailblazing conductor, as she navigates the challenges of breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry. Inspired by her mentor, the iconic Nadia Boulanger (a real-life musical luminary) Hannah’ s journey spans decades, intertwining themes of ambition, love, and resilience. Alternating between her formative years as a prodigy in 1960s Paris and her reflective present-day quest for creative renewal, Hannah’ s story crescendos with a poignant exploration of identity and legacy. Perfect for lovers of music and literature, Whouley’ s narrative resonates like a masterful symphony, capturing the triumphs and tribulations of an extraordinary life dedicated to art.

Reviews

What an intricate, inspiring, and rewarding novel Kate Whouley has written…The Maestro and Her Protege is a dazzling debut.
—Margot Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven

I loved Kate Whouley’s latest, a story of art, ambition, and music, inspired by the real-life luminary, Nadia Boulanger…The Maestro and her Protégé is the perfect novel for readers who love music, Paris, and delving deeply into both.
—Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times-bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club pick, The Jetsetters

Kate Whouley’s deep dive into the world of classical music is a joy to read… a refreshingly original story about artistry, identity, and the struggle to break barriers while staying true to oneself.
—Mira Lee, author of Everything Here is Beautiful

With her seemingly boundless knowledge of music and her elegant, witty prose, Kate Whouley depicts the toil of mastery, personal sacrifice, and personal growth…Whether or not you’re a music lover, you’ll find much to enjoy in this soulful, satisfying novel. 
—Daphne Kalotay, author of The Archivists

In her lyrical and emotionally resonant debut novel, Kate Whouley delivers a poignantly charged portrait of a woman at the pinnacle of her career…set against a richly drawn backdrop of music and memory.
—David R. Gillham, New York Times-bestselling author of City of Women

This warm, deeply engaging novel…is a thoughtful, lively look at what it means to devote yourself to art—what it costs, what it asks of you, and the rare, powerful rewards it can offer in return.
—Rosie Sultan, author of Helen Keller in Love

In The Maestro and Her Protégé, readers enter a magical world where musicians are made…The book reads like a favorite movie to watch over and over. Kate Whouley is The Maestro of Storytelling.”
—Karol Jackowski, author of Sister Karol’s Book of Spells, Blessings, and Folk Magic

Author Biography

Kate Whouley is the author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved, a BookSense Book of the Year finalist, and Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words, winner of the 2012 New England Book Award in nonfiction. She directs the MFA program in creative writing at Bay Path University and serves as a contributing editor at Yankee magazine. An avocational musician, Kate traces the inspiration for her debut novel, The Maestro and Her Protégé, to a long-ago freshman music theory class taught by a demanding professor who was once a student of the famously formidable musical master, Nadia Boulanger.