Goddess Fish Promotions Presents

Unbowed
by M G da Mota

A randomly drawn winner will receive a $25 Amazon/BN GC – Enter Below

Alexia Jewel, a beautiful, intelligent, famous classical music conductor, approaching her 50th birthday. She had to fight against convention for years to follow her dream.

Four men who all desire her. A mysterious great-grandmother. An antique, rare, green diamond ring.

And a stalker.

Only six months but six tumultuous months in Alexia’s life.

Alexia is invited to participate in the BBC’s show Who do you think you are? and through it, she slowly uncovers the mystery of the diamond ring and her great-grandmother’s secret. The stalker makes her life hell but she is determined to continue her successful, celebrated music career in Europe and the States without disruption. While Alexia bows to the music and her audience, she vows never to bow to the stalker and to face consequences head on.

5 out of 5

This was a brilliant mix of mystery and thriller, with a slight touch of romance, while also blending past and present. The story builds up momentum a little slowly, but as the tension builds and things start to snowball, you’ll soon realize you’re quite deep in the story and reluctant to set it down. I was equally curious about the mystery of Alexia’s grandmother and the diamond as I was about the four men and Alexia’s stalker. I truly enjoyed Alexia as a character, she’s well-fleshed out, and felt real. Her determination, even in the face of everything going on around her, and the fear the stalker instilled in her, made me love her even more. Definitely recommend!

Alexia never made a secret about her preference to live abroad. Understandably the British public and the British press had repaid her in the same way, openly criticising her work and attacking her on social media. However, now she was the first woman conductor to obtain top positions in one of the world’s great opera houses and in a leading symphonic orchestra their attitude had changed and she could do no wrong. Her birthday concerts in London were already sold out. Alexia felt a sting. Everyone seemed so proud of her nowadays but for years she’d had to fight against family, peers, teachers, professors – everyone – to be accepted and taken seriously. 

‘Women conductors? What nonsense.’ 

The same two phrases coupled together had rung in her ears countless times. Was she different at fifty than at twenty-five or thirty? A few grey hairs and a couple of wrinkles probably betrayed her age but her enthusiasm, energy and determination were the same. She hadn’t changed since her fifteenth birthday when announcing for the first time she wanted to become a conductor. Her family chuckled without exception and one of them said aloud what all were thinking, ‘girls don’t do that.’ But her personality, ideas, attitude to life and professionalism were the same now she was about to turn fifty. 

Alexia was born at precisely 8:37 a.m. on 5th February 1965, the fifth child of Annette and Jonathan Jewel. After the birth of their youngest son Daniel, her parents had decided the family was complete. Four boys were more than enough.

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M G da Mota is Margarida Mota-Bull’s pen name for fiction. She is a Portuguese-British novelist with a love for classical music, ballet and opera. Under her real name she also writes reviews of live concerts, CDs, DVDs and books for two classical music magazines on the web: MusicWeb International and Seen and Heard International. She is a member of the UK Society of Authors, speaks four languages and lives in Sussex with her husband. Her website, called flowingprose.com, contains photos and information.

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