Review: The Lost Melody

The Lost Melody by Joanna Davidson Politano
My rating: 💛💛💛

“Sometimes when you live among storms, you become a rock to endure the waves.”

This mystery and writing are good – halfway through as reader I was confused, and convinced Vivienne is having delusions and are in fact Cora Fletcher.

As with this author’s other novels, there was twists and turns not expected revealed at the right time to keep the reader invested and intrigued.

I enjoyed how Ella Blythe was connected to this book. We met Ella in A Midnight Dance.

The pace of the story was a bit slow for me. Other readers might enjoy the slower pace, but for me it had the affect that I lost a bit of interest and just wanted to get to the end. The mystery was interesting, but not as captivating as I was with some of the author’s previous books.

No hopeless cases. None. Not even here. Only those who have lost hope—and need to be brought back to life.

The fact that this story played off within an Asylum made for a heavier read. The patients were treated with no compassion and humanity, which made for a difficult to read, especially those patients who the reader could see was not insane.

“What I’m beginning to realize is that this place is filled with people who need help . . . but the point is that they are people, broken or not.”

Vivienne/Cora was a character with so much depth and heart. The way she reached out to the patients and saw them should be a lesson for all.

“It’s a rare and beautiful thing to see potential in these people, but you see more—you see value.”

The author’s way with words and bringing light and truth to the darkness was as beautiful as I have come to expect, which is evident in the number of quotes I have highlighted.

We’re all of us told to walk in the light, but we don’t. We simply wish to drag the light over to where we’re already standing, so we may better see the path we’ve set out for ourselves. I dearly wished to set my own path. To take control for once in my life. But perhaps I wasn’t meant to—not in the way I’d tried it, anyway. Let go.

Rating 3.5

*I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.*

Other Quotes:

The light. Of course, in the darkest moments one must always look for the light.

“Perhaps God saw fit to break down who you were becoming and help you build back up the right way. To prepare you for something even greater.”

Music and silence. Light and dark. When it came to darkness, you could succumb and let it consume you . . . or you could invade it with light of your own.

View all my reviews

About the book:

When concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant's father dies, he leaves to her the care of an adult ward she knew nothing about. The woman is supposedly a patient at Hurstwell Asylum. The woman's portrait is shockingly familiar to Vivienne, so when the asylum claims she was never a patient there, Vivienne is compelled to discover what happened to the figure she remembers from childhood dreams.

The longer she lingers in the deep shadows and forgotten towers at Hurstwell, the fuzzier the line between sanity and madness becomes. She hears music no one else does, receives strange missives with rose petals between the pages, and untangles far more than is safe for her to know. But can she uncover the truth about the mysterious woman she seeks? And is there anyone at Hurstwell she can trust with her suspicions?

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.

About the author:

Joanna Davidson Politano freelances for a small nonfiction publisher but spends much of her time spinning tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives. Her manuscript for Lady Jayne Disappears was a finalist for several contests, including the 2016 Genesis Award from ACFW, and won the OCW Cascade Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is always on the hunt for random acts of kindness, people willing to share their deepest secrets with a stranger, and hidden stashes of sweets. She lives with her husband and their two babies in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan and shares stories that move her at www.jdpstories.com.