Every Valley

Every Valley tells the extraordinary story behind the creation of one of the greatest pieces of music ever written – a cinematic and moving drama of entangled lives at a pivotal moment in history. London, 1741. An actress mired in scandal plans her escape from an abusive husband. A penniless sea captain sets out to rescue the city’s abandoned infants. An African Muslim and former captive in the colonies becomes a celebrity. A grieving political dissident seeks release from his torment. And a great composer to kings – George Frideric Handel – now ill and straining to keep an audience’s attention, faces a decision that will secure his place in history. Evoking a pivotal moment at the birth of modernity, a time of fear, conspiracy and uprising, and featuring some of the most unusual and brilliant personalities of the eighteenth century, Every Valley tells the story behind the creation of Handel’s Messiah: a cinematic and moving drama of hope in the darkness and the entangled lives that shaped a masterpiece. ‘A mesmerizing journey of musical genius. There is only one Handel, and only one Messiah, and to understand how each was created is to become immersed in one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history’ AMANDA FOREMAN ‘A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure. Unforgettable’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE ‘A book of power and glory, brimming with emotion and dazzling in its reach’ STACY SCHIFF