The main theme in this novel is Monica Gall's development as a performing artist. In Salterton, Monica has not known many people in the arts.
Her main influence has been her Aunt Ellen, organist at a small Baptist church for over twenty-five years.
Aunt Ellen and Monica listen to the Saturday afternoon broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera, look at pictures of the great singers of the turn of the century in The Victor Book of the Opera, and read sentimental fiction like Jessie Fothergill's The First Violin, which is about a young woman with a beautiful voice whose singing teacher is "daemonic" and whose lover (a violinist in an orchestra) turns out to be a nobleman in the end. When Monica receives the scholarship, Aunt Ellen tells her to become "a great artist," someone.....
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