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To A Strange Somewhere Fled

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D M Denton

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​The end of a melody is not its goal: but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

From Roger North's "Notes of Me" in his own hand

Music and passionate lyricism inform this book ... lingers in the mind like some elusive and beautiful tune heard through open windows on a summer’s day. Denton has done a great deal of research, and the book includes many real characters—Henry Purcell, Roger North and his brother Sir Francis, and Celia Fiennes, the “fine lady upon a white horse” of nursery rhyme fame. Denton’s deep understanding and love for the music and musicians of this era are evident on every page and transport the reader. Lovers of poetry and music will enjoy this excursion to Baroque England, as I did.
~ Review by 
Historical Novel Society

When informed that “jealousy was the motive to it” Purcell lamented Stradella’s fate, and “in regret of his great merit as a musician”, said he could forgive him any injury in that kind.       
~ From Purcell studies
by Curtis Price​

Go to youtube.com to listen to selections of the music of Henry Purcell.

Music by Henry Purcell in his own hand

To A Strange Somewhere Fled
by DM Denton
Sequel to A House Near Luccoli

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No comfort to my wounded sight,
In the Suns busie and imperti’nent light,
Then down I lay my head;
Down on cold earth; and for a while was dead,
And my freed soul to a strange somewhere fled.

~ From The Despair by Abraham Cowley, first published 1647

Synopsis ...

After the sudden end to her collaboration with the composer Alessandro Stradella, Donatella moves from Genoa to join her parents in a small village in Oxfordshire, England. 

The gift of a sonnet, 'stolen' music, inexpressible secrets, and an irrepressible spirit have stowed away on her journey.

Haunted by whispers and visions, angels and demons, will she rise out of grief and aimlessness? Her father's friendship with the residents of Wroxton Abbey, who are important figures in the court of Charles II, offers new possibilities, especially, as music and its masters, including the 'divine' Henry Purcell, have not finished with her yet.
​

Donatella’s cottage behind the village pond.

While adjusting to living with her parents, a musty climate, rural surroundings, and learning to speak and be English, Donatella meets Roger North, a respectable and accomplished young man of letters and law and innumerable talents and interests. Yet, as Donatella discovers how much she has in common with his reserve, insecurities, curiosity and musical pursuits, and even develops a fondness for him, she also realizes she will never be without the one she loved in spite of herself.

There is a strange somewhere between endings and beginnings. What seems final is preparation for what is to come. 

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How the North’s Wroxton residence (Wroxton Abbey) would have looked in 1682-1683 without its south (right) wing, which was added later.

 Visit the village of Wroxton and Wroxton Abbey
 and view the setting of the novel.

Copyright 2014 by DM Denton

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