2. Once
upon a
There was a girl named Thea Kronborg. A
gifted Swedish immigrant girl's Sisyphean struggle
to realise her talents as an opera singer, in a petty-
bourgeois Midwestern society where women's
singing is supposed to be limited to church.
time, She was striving to be an artist despite
the struggles in life. Years later, she goes to the
Kohlers' for her piano lesson with Wunsch.
3. Before Christmas, Thea plays the piano at a concert but the town paper
praises her rival Lily which makes Thea angry.
After Christmas, Thea goes to the Kohlers' for another lesson, where
Wunsch tells her about a Spanish opera singer who could sing an alto part
of Christoph Gluck.
4. In Chicago, Thea moves close to the parish
of a Swedish Reformed Church with
two German women; she also sings in the choir and
in funerals for a stipend, and takes piano lessons with
Mr. Harsanyi. Later, he meets with the conductor of
the Chicago Orchestra and asks him who is the best
voice teacher in the area and the conductor tells him
that it is Madison Bowers. He then parts with Thea,
explaining that her voice is her true artistic gift, not her
playing. After several weeks of singing lessons, she
takes a train back to Moonstone and she appears to
have grown a lot.
5. Back in Chicago, Thea keeps moving from one home to
another. And then she meets Fred Ottenburg, a rich young man. He
takes her to meet the Nathanmeyers, a rich family, and they like her
well enough to give her a job singing in a show that they are having.
Dr. Archie, a family friend of Thea’s, goes to Denver to
look over some silver investments. He receives a telegram from
Thea summoning him to New York City. Thea ponders on the
futility of her ambition, but comes to the conclusion that it is
worth giving it a shot.
6. Ten years later, Dr. Archie has moved to Denver after his mining
investments went up and his wife has died. Archie attends Thea's operatic
performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and later
he talks to her at her hotel, they meet again at four the next day. Later they
meet again with Fred; she performs the end of an opera at the last minute
but performs very well. Thea then takes the time to talk both to Archie and
Fred about what she has been up to.
7. Finally, she gives another performance and Harsanyi is in
the audience, who is overwhelmed by her performance. The novel
ends with Tillie, the only remaining Kronborg who still lives in
Moonstone.
