Review: The Lost Melody by Joanna Davidson Politano

The Lost Melody

by Joanna Davidson Politano

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

My Thoughts

A Tender and Haunting Historical Novel

Joanna Davidson Politano has become one of my favorite authors. She has a knack for writing incredibly immersive and atmospheric Gothic Victorian fiction with threads of light that leave the reader feeling hopeful at the tale’s end. The Lost Melody is her best yet.

Politano writes a story that paints a picture of Victorian asylums without being too macabre. We show how mistreated those committed to insane asylums were, and the surprisingly vast variety of reasons people were institutionalized. Yet we are also shown the compassion of some characters who had the best interest of the people in the asylum at heart, and the wonders music therapy could do for them. The growth shown for the heroine Vivienne throughout the novel is beautiful. While at first she looks on those committed to the asylum in disdain, she comes to see things differently as she spends time there herself, seeing their plights and feeling their pain. Add in a mystery and a beguiling hero, and you have an absorbing novel that I loved.

Fans of Victorian fiction with a Gothic flair and inspirational historical fiction alike won’t want to miss The Lost Melody.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.