Summary

Wunderkind is the story of Frances, a gifted teen-aged pianist living in Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1930s. At first Frances exceeds all expectations but comes to discover that she can't maintain her own high standards. Her music instructor, Mr. Bilderbach, calls her Bienchen, a term of endearment and reserves her English name for those days when he is especially exasperated with her. To everyone else he refers to Frances as a wunderkind, a child prodigy.

Coming to the music studio is so much a part of Frances' daily routine that she has become like a daughter to the Bilderbachs. Mrs. Bilderbach feeds her apple cake along with other German dishes. Sometimes Frances practices until so late in the evening that she stays overnight with them and returns home on the bus the next morning.

Mrs. Bilderbach is also musically inclined, having...