Alina: A Song For the Telling

Malve von Hassell

Aug 2020 · BHC Press

About this eBook

“You should be grateful, my girl. You have no dowry, and I am doing everything I can to get you settled. You are hardly any man’s dream.” Alina’s brother, Milos, pulled his face into a perfect copy of Aunt Marci’s sour expression, primly pursing his mouth. He had got her querulous tone just right. 

I pinched my lips together, trying not to laugh. But it was true; Aunt Marci had already introduced me to several suitors. So far I had managed to decline their suits politely.

Maybe Alina’s aunt was right. How could she possibly hope to become a musician, a trobairitz, as impoverished as she was and without the status of a good marriage?

But fourteen-year-old Alina refuses to accept the oppressing life her strict aunt wants to impose upon her. When the perfect opportunity comes along for her to escape, she and her brother embark on a journey through the Byzantine Empire all the way to Jerusalem.

Alina soon finds herself embroiled in the political intrigue of noble courts as she fights to realize her dream of becoming a female troubadour.

Ratings and reviews

"'There are no limits. Don't be afraid to try something new'" Towards the end of the book, there is a conversation between two characters about impermanence and how it changes people and outcomes. Alina de Florac, aged 14, after having lost her parents and her sister are taken by illness. She and her brother Milos become wards of her father's brother:a rather caustic outcome as Uncle Garsanc and Aunt Marci see them as poor relations: mad at Milos ,15, for not having a marketable skill and unable to present Alina as a suitable bride. It didn't matter to them who these two young people had skills they chose not to see, for dreamers weren't in their understanding. To challenge their future sets them on the adventure of a lifetime. Would you send a 14 and 15 year old halfway across the known world to a culture so foreign it makes adults' heads spin? Talk about growing up fast! I liked this book as someone who knows theological history, and how this time frame ran. Recommended 4/5

With an unusual setting and period (Jerusalem in the 12th century), the author offers a captivating and excellent evocation of the society of the time. A middle grade historical novel I would recommend to all lovers of history, young and older. From the first chapter on, the author shows her talent for descriptions, evocation of places and characters, especially when it comes to Alina, a very rich personality, with conflictual feelings, and who needs to maneuver as a young girl in the society of her time. The book opens with Guy’s funeral, in Provence. After his death, his brother Garsanc and his wife come to take over Guy’s property and finish raising Alina, 14 and her brother Milos, 15. But the couple is so very different from Guy, who gave an education to all his children, including Alina, and even taught her how to play the lute. Alina finds herself now too much confined. Her dream is to become a trobairitz like Beatriz de Dia, that is, a woman troubadour. So with her brother, she manages to convince her uncle that going on a pilgrimage to pray for their father in Jerusalem would be a good thing for all. She leaves Provence with her brother in the Spring of 1173. The description of their trip (with the traveling conditions and the different kinds of people they meet along the road) and of the different cities they went through were so good, and especially when they arrived in Jerusalem: smells, food, famous sites, I felt back there myself. Through the various people Alina meets, the author managed to draw a wonderful portrait of the city, and also present the intricate political situation and machinations in the Middle East, yes already back then in the 12th century. I also really enjoyed the musical theme, with references to famous poets of the time (for instance Yehuda Halevi) and some of their texts.

About the author

Malve von Hassell is a writer, researcher, and translator. Born in Italy, she spent part of her childhood in Belgium and Germany before moving to the United States. She lives in Southampton, New York, close to the ocean and a bay beach where she meets flying sea robins and turtles on her morning walks with her rescue dog Loki. She enjoys reading, playing chess with her son, gardening, anything to do with horses, and dreams of someday touring Mongolia on horseback. 

Her works include the children’s picture book, Letters from the Tooth Fairy, written in response to her son’s letters to the tooth fairy; The Falconer’s Apprentice, her first historical fiction novel for young readers; The Amber Crane, a historical fiction novel set in Germany in the 17th century, and Alina: A Song for the Telling, a coming-of-age story of a young woman from Provence in the 12th century who dreams of being a musician.