Bio: Joanna Davidson Politano is the award-winning author of Lady
Jayne Disappears, A Rumored Fortune, Finding Lady
Enderly, The Love Note, and A Midnight Dance. She
loves tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives and
is eager to hear anyone’s story. She lives with her husband and their children
in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan.
About the story: After the death of her father, concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant is
surprised to learn she is now responsible for an adult ward at Hurstwell Asylum
whom she knows nothing about. The woman’s portrait stirs old memories from Vivienne’s
childhood dreams. When the asylum claims that the woman was never a patient there,
Vivienne resolves to find the woman no matter what.
As she becomes an aid and is soon admitted against her will to Hurstwell, a
place forgotten by the outside world, the edges of sanity and madness blur,
leaving her unsure of what is real. Music plays for her ears alone, letters
full of rose petals are delivered, and secrets beyond the ones she seeks are
revealed. Will the woman’s history ever be revealed?
Fan-favorite Joanna Davidson Politano casts a delightful spell with
this lyrical look into the nature of women’s independence and artistic
expression during the Victorian era—and
now.
The Lost Melody is about a concert pianist who sees the entire world in terms of
music. She sees the people around her, the good and bad circumstances of her
life, even the atmosphere of a place, as a song with all its unique traits. She
enters Hurstwell Pauper Lunatic Asylum as an aid to find a mysterious ward she
never knew about—and who the asylum claims was never a patient there. Because
her father has paid for this woman’s keep for many years, and because Vivienne
herself recognizes the woman’s portrait, she cannot keep from searching out the
truth. She’s seen this woman and heard the haunting lost melody she plays on
the piano, yet no one seems to know her or what became of her. She discovers
more than she ever imagined she would, pairing her skill in music with a place
deeply in need of healing, and we get to see through Vivienne what impact music
has on people’s minds and bodies—and what impact light has in darkness.
What inspired the story of a woman searching for a mysteriously
missing patient? I had a dream once—that’s how so many story
ideas start—that I woke up in some prison cell for speaking out about God. It
was terrifying and emboldening, and I felt I had a mission, even within these
odd circumstances. In the morning, I wrote out the details of what I’d
experienced, then I started asking “what if?” I made it a story idea, and
thought about why someone might find themselves trapped in an asylum. I tossed
out the overdone ideas and thought of more. What put her there? What happens
next? Then what? And since this came from a dream, I thought it would be a fun
twist to have the mysterious character the heroine searches for be from a dream
too. A pianist who played a distinctive song in the middle of the night, and
only the heroine heard it. I had no idea where I was going with the idea, but
it was an interesting place to start!
The Lost Melody is set in the
Victorian era. What drew you to this time period? Of all the books I’ve read, some of my favorites were written during
the Victorian era. I feel at home in that slice of history, and I just love the
nuances and climate of the time. Things were vastly different then, especially
for the poor and for women, but humanity remains the same. There are so many
insights into our life here and now through the lens of Victorian England.
Your character spends a great deal of time at an asylum. What type of
research was required to accurately portray this time period and the location? I read a lot of nonfiction material concerning asylums, including
myth-busting statistics and evidence. I also read journalist Nelly Bly’s
account of her time in a “mad house,” as she called it, and everything she
experienced. Her story took place in New York, so I mostly used her impressions
and thoughts rather than the historical details that wouldn’t have necessarily
matched British asylums, but it was incredibly helpful in setting the tone in
my head.
What I found most helpful were the journals written by various asylum
inmates, mostly men, in Victorian England. Those accounts were raw and
heartbreaking, especially when I recognized everyday conditions in the patients
described in the pages. There were also records of items patients left behind
as well as early photographs of their faces, and that added a human element to
my research. I couldn’t set these stories aside. I couldn’t forget about the
people and their lives. And through all this research, I found a great deal of
hope and beauty.
Your main
character, Vivienne, is a concert pianist. What compelled you to write about a
musically talented character? When God invited me into a very
dark-sounding premise, this asylum setting, I wanted to contrast it with
something intensely beautiful. One of the most beautiful things I could think
of within that time period was music—especially piano music. Whenever I write,
or even when I’m homeschooling my small children, piano music permeates the atmosphere
and somehow grounds us all. It’s calming but also full of life, and that’s
exactly what I wanted to put into this story that could otherwise be quite
dreary. The music ended up becoming a huge component of the story, and adding
so much light and hope and fascinating historical elements that I can’t wait to
share with readers. The music portion of my research and my preparation was a
real delight to my music-loving heart.
Honestly, I never
think the story will work itself out, or that a resolution will be possible,
until it happens and it’s there. A writing friend once told me that our brain
hates an unfinished story, and that’s how this one especially went for me—I
couldn’t get it out of my head until I’d untangled every last twist and saw
everything clearly. Then, of course, there’s the matter of going back through
the whole thing and making sure all the details add up and actually point to
the right conclusion!
Do you identify
with Vivienne in any way?
Absolutely. I’ve
played piano for as long as I can remember, and the way music gets under her
skin—in a good way—is somewhat from my own life. I’m not a performer, but I
absolutely love to play and listen to music. Beyond that, I felt her spiritual
struggle heavily. The idea of having a strong purpose in life, then being
derailed, finding yourself trapped in circumstances that were nowhere near what
you’d planned . . . and realizing the interruption was as important
as the previous mission you were on. Perhaps more so. I’ve been in some long
seasons I didn’t understand, didn’t like, and after crying out to God with all
my questions and probably more than a few complaints, I realized each time what
freedom I still had within the prison of those circumstances.
What do you hope
the reader takes away from The Lost Melody? A sense of freedom
within the constraints of circumstances. At some point we all find ourselves
mired in a place we don’t want to be, trapped by someone else’s choices or by
unforeseen events. We fight it, complain about it, then something happens and
we settle into the season and maybe even realize this interruption was the
point all along. That our purpose and mission are found right in the midst of
the place we never wanted to be. Or at the very least, that we can have a great
deal of freedom within that difficulty. What freedom is available to God’s
people, especially within their heart, no matter what’s going on around them.
What do you love
about writing historical fiction? I love the characters! I always start with
them. Then I look at what’s going on in the world around them and how that
might shape who they are, their motivations, their heart questions. Humanity
remains largely the same over time, broken but beautiful, but there’s something
irresistible about stepping out of your own world and visiting another,
spending time with the people there and seeing humans from their
perspective—then seeing the similarities to ourselves in modern culture.
Where can our audience go to connect with you? My newsletter is where I share everything first, and you can connect
with that on my website: jdpstories.com. I’m also on Facebook and Instagram as
Joanna Davidson Politano. I also create Pinterest boards to help readers
visualize my stories.
Thank you, Joanna,
for sharing your novel on my blog. I have a lot of readers who love historical
novels.
Readers, here’s a
link to the book.
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