“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
Some powerful examples of the serendipity and discovery of research dropped in my lap recently with the announcement that the man who occupied much of my last book, Tried As Silver, and was an implied romantic connection for the protagonist (we’ll never really know), had one of his pieces of music chosen for the recent funeral of Queen Elizabeth. You can imagine my shock and joy when I heard that, feeling as if an old friend had finally received his due recognition. And in fact, two more of the students he mentored in his quest to elevate British music were also represented at the funeral. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford really did leave his mark on music, as did his students, thus proving he was right when he told my protagonist, Emily Alden (at my own invention), that teaching was as important as any career could be.
Just as surprising for me was the spotlight on Amanda Aldridge on the Google Doodle recently. She, too, had figured prominently in Emily’s later career, and there she was for all to see on the internet! I’d never heard of her until I started doing research for the book, but there she was almost as if I’d liberated her from the stale pages of notes about lesser known music champions of the 19th Century! Continue Reading