While the Music Plays

By: Diane Austell

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Once, Laura Chandler had dazzled all of Washington with her beauty and poise. But with the sudden death of her husband, the great senator Robert Chandler, she changed, afraid to care for anyone or anything.

Now, in 1861, as the streets of Richmond are alive with the rumblings of civil war, a daring Yankee has sought Laura out. Chase Girard has been charged with the task of persuading the legendary Southern charmer to spy for the Union.

Laura is deeply drawn to the Union cause, but she has two brothers in the Confederate Army. Can she betray them and everyone she holds dear? And can she risk a secret alliance with Chase Girard, who has the power to reawaken her most dangerous longings?

©1996 Diane Austell (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Austell brilliantly depicts the cruel costs of the bitter North-South schism on both home front and battlefield....[While the Music Plays has] the narrative power and flow of Margaret Mitchell's [Gone with the Wind]." (Publishers Weekly)
"One is in good hands with reader Anna Fields. She sets this costume drama before the listener with ladylike enthusiasm, obviously having a good time." (AudioFile)

Love, war, divided loyalties

What a fantastic listen! I absolutely loved it and didn’t want it to end. It reminded me a little of Gone with the Wind. It is set in the same time period and touches on the same issues: South and North, slavery, family, betrayals, divided loyalties, and of course, love...

Book is very well written and has a cast of interesting multi developed characters. Laura, the heroine of the story, is probably one of my favourite heroines. She is beautiful but also educated, principled and has strong convictions. There is no insta love/lust between H/h, romance developed slowly and there is no explicit love scenes (descriptions of feelings rather than mechanics).

I liked the narration, Anna Field did a wonderful job.

Highly recommend if you are interested in HISTORICAL romance set during the Civil War period.