If you’re a music history buff or a fan of twentieth-century Americana, Musical Chairs: A True, Forgotten Tale of Love, Music, and Furniture may be for you. Inspired by the history of the Winona, Minnesota town band, Ruth Anfinson Bures gives us a semi-biographical account of four musicians: sisters Babette and Freda, and Orville and Walter. They meet, marry, and become performers. After touring as a musical act, they settle in Winona in 1918 where they run a furniture store to provide an income while pursuing their music. Orville becomes the town’s bandleader. Babette gives lessons and recitals. Freda and Walter sing. Their musical accomplishments and services to the community over the ensuing years garner praise, but all four experience surprising changes in their personal lives.

Musical Chairs is an engaging and informative work of well-researched historical fiction by Ruth Anfinson Bures. We sometimes forget how important musical performances were for everyday Americans during the first four decades of the 1900s. Blending family memorabilia, newspaper clippings, historical photographs, and other illustrations with fictional dialog and plot, Bures breathes life into the characters and gives them dimension. She highlights the struggle that Orville faced in obtaining support for the town band over the two decades that he was its leader, and she provides insight into the economic, social, and technological changes taking place during this period. I enjoyed reading about these talented musicians and the impact they had on the lives of so many around them.

Musical Chairs: A True, Forgotten Tale of Love, Music, and Furniture by Ruth Bures is one of those lovely stories of real characters and their lives that is fictionalized to create a fascinating tale of relationships, family, and historical happenings. Babette and Freda Heyer were talented musicians from an early age. Babette was determined to succeed as a professional musician. After successfully applying to the Chicago Musical College in 1901, Babette began the pursuit of her dream. After graduation, she began her career as a music teacher but when she fell in love with Orville Reese, whom she married without her parents' approval the day she turned 18, Babette, Orville, sister Freda, and eventually Freda’s love, Walter W. Christensen, formed a vaudeville act known as The Musical Reeses and hit the road. This story follows the foursome as they attempt to make a name for themselves in music, eventually leading them to Winona, Minnesota, where Orville and Walter buy a furniture store and Orville makes a name for himself as the Director of the Winona City Band, guiding the band to success and support in their small town, at a time when live music was an integral part of people’s lives.

Musical Chairs is a delightful slice of small-town life, love, and politics. Author Ruth Bures has portrayed these characters in a sympathetic but realistic light as they struggle with the everyday issues all young couples face, especially as they try desperately to find the balance between work, their passions, and family. It is easy to forget what an important role these bands and other community organizations played in small towns all across the country when there were so few wholesome entertainments available, especially during times of economic depression. All the principal characters were wonderfully explored, with perhaps Orville being the most complex and unusual of the four main players. That he was obsessive to the point of putting the band’s needs before almost anything, including his wife, was a testament to his passion and his desire for recognition but ultimately a blessing for the town of Winona. Few stories hook me as compulsively as this one did. I just had to keep reading to see where this would all end up and I appreciated that the author summed up the principal characters' further lives at the end of the book. Music was the driving force behind almost everyone in this story but it is a journey of love, friendship, and community that will captivate readers of all ages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.