Listen to author and critic Erica Wagner in conversation with Harriet Constable, writer of “The Instrumentalist”, her first novel published by Bloomsbury in 2024, in which she retraces the story of musical prodigy Anna Maria della Pietà, student of Antonio Vivaldi. Through this conversation with Erica Wagner, Harriet Constable talks about her professional background as a journalist and filmmaker, her creative process and the importance of artistic solidarity in the journey of publishing a first novel. Together, they also discuss how narrating the untold stories of inspiring women is inseparable with both historical research and perseverance.

As part of the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon [Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon], the podcast "les Rencontres" highlights the birth of a writer in a series imagined by CHANEL and House ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi.

© Harriet Constable 2024, 'The Instrumentalist', Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright Guardian News & Media Ltd 2024

The Rough Guide to Kenya by Richard Trillo © Rough Guide, 2024

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Trevis © Walter Trevis, 1983. Published by Penguin Random

House US

Copyright © Diogenes Verlag A G, Zurich, 1985 Translation Copyright © John E. Woods, 1986

Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet, Knopf, 2020

Antonio Vivaldi, Le Quattro Stagioni, 1723-1725

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1623

Teatro La Fenice © Gian Antonio Selva, Aldo Rossi, Giovanni Battista Meduna, 1792

© The New School