RELEASE DATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2026
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW ON AMAZON
(Inside Scoop: Paul Tietjens, a turn-of-the-century classically trained pianist, began composing by setting poetry to his own scores. One of his first creations was to set Tennyson’s poem to music.)
Inspired by his diary, The Lark tells the true story of the man behind the music of the 1903 Broadway comic opera of The Wizard of Oz.
Decades before Dorothy’s ruby slippers graced the silver screen, twenty-three-year-old Paul Tietjens is a brilliant classical pianist with dreams of greatness and a non-refundable ticket to Europe to study with the master composers of his time. But the bank calls in the loan on his family’s Missouri farm, and Paul sacrifices his heart’s desire to save them from financial ruin.
Hoping to find a new road to success, he moves to the up-and-coming city of Chicago, where he convinces L. Frank Baum to collaborate on a comic opera of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Paul’s aspiration to soar with the larks takes a dangerous turn when Paul falls for his best friend’s beautiful but married sister, and The Wizard of Oz demands not only his talent but his soul.
Journeying from turn-of-the-century Chicago to the streets of Manhattan, from his family’s farm to the beaches of Michigan, Paul fights to hang onto the chance of a lifetime, his integrity, and the woman he loves.
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