You’re not alone if you assume it’s a violin on the cover of my novel, Her Memory of Music. It is not a violin, however, but rather its lesser-known cousin, the viola.

This is the story behind that story.

Her Memory of Music tells the story of a talented musician, single mom Ally Brennan, who lives with her son in Langley-by-the-Sea, where she attempts to run from a haunting past. Before I wrote Ally’s story, I interviewed several fine musicians. One of these, Bryn, is a classically trained violist. When I learned Bryn’s story—and that of her viola—I knew I’d found the inspiration for my character and her instrument.

Like many violists, Bryn began her musical training playing the violin. Because of its compact size and musical versatility, the violin is exceptionally well-suited for social music—youth symphony, church ensembles, wedding quartets, and the like. Bryn was content with her instrument…until a couple of things happened when she was a teen.

First, after an audition, one of the judges—a friend of Bryn’s dad (who was himself a professional musician)—told him that good violinists were a dime a dozen, but if his daughter switched to viola she’d “have the world at her feet.”

Six months later, Bryn was at a music camp where there were “eleventy-seven” violins and only six violas. The conductor offered free lessons and a borrowed viola to any violinist who wanted to try the switch. Bryn’s hand was immediately in the air.

Then, a few months later, Bryn accompanied her father on a European concert tour. Father and daughter wandered into a pokey little Parisian shop. There they found a dusty viola with scratches on the back that attempted to hide a crack that had been repaired. The story went that the instrument had been damaged centuries earlier when the Gypsies that owned it threw it into the bushes while escaping The Law.

There in that dusty Parisian shop, Bryn picked up the cracked viola and ran a bow across its strings. It sang beautifully, its sound completely unaffected by its flaw. Her father purchased the viola for a song, and it has been Bryn’s prized instrument ever since.

And that is how a 300-year-old viola with a crack down the back and no label became the model for the viola in my story.

As a side note—because of its defect, Bryn’s viola is worth only about $4000. Compare that to the custom-made viola her professional-musician sister-in-law plays, which is valued at $20,000.

Perhaps it’s the romantic in me, but I’d rather have Bryn’s storied viola than a custom-made one worth five times more.

Would you?

❤️ Katherine

For a limited time, Her Memory of Music eBook is available for 99 cents here!