The Secret Society of Salzburg by Renee Ryan
In the 1930s in Salzburg, Austria, Elsa Mayer-Braun is a rising opera star, falling in love with her brilliant, arrogant, and magnetic conductor, Wilhelm Hoffman. Meanwhile, in London, young Hattie Featherstone is a secretary, a civil servant, longing for more. When she and her sister Vera hear a gramophone record of Elsa singing, a love for opera is born in them. Impulsively, Hattie and Vera travel to Salzburg to hear Elsa in person – and strike up an unlikely friendship with the opera star that deepens over time.
But times are darkening in Austria, and Elsa’s new husband, Wilhelm, darkens before her eyes as he befriends Nazis and seeks to gain prestige in the new German regime. Elsa longs to help her Jewish friends escape to England, but how? Could Hattie’s obsession with opera be of any help?
Against the glorious backdrop of Salzburg and London is set this lovely tale of women using the meager tools at their disposal to accomplish great good. The friendship between Elsa and Hattie runs like a ribbon of steel through the story, as they strengthen and bring out the best in each other. Inspired by real events, The Secret Society of Salzburg by Renee Ryan is a keeper!
