It’s one of those times of the year when authors are releasing new books. If you follow me regularly, you know that I enjoy a variety of books from those for information to deeper dives into inspiration as well as a good fiction book to read as I relax in the evening. It’s easy when I see a favorite author has a new release to get the new book.
Melanie Dobson is one of my favorite fiction authors and just released her latest book, The Lost Story of Via Belle. This style of writing introduces readers early in the book to several different characters (each with his or her own chapter plus a hint of their story) and different time periods for each character. Then little by little the threads of overlapping stories occur keeping the reader guessing until the final chapters of the book.
If you enjoy that type of book, The Lost Story of Via Belle, will not disappoint. In the opening pages you meet Olivia Ashe and it’s 1940. Olivia is a successful author of sweet romance novels living in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband, Graham, a pastor. Readers love her stories as they typically have a happily ever after ending but with the sudden death of her husband, Olivia’s life with loss results in no new stories growing in her mind. The turret where she writes with her typewriter sets silent in her idyllic home.
An unexpected invitation to speak on a panel of authors at a college in Ohio introduces her to a man at the event who expresses interest in her and her work. Over weeks and months he (Simon) pursues a friendship with her. Ultimately, he proposes marriage and despite Olivia’s uncertainties and advice from those close to her, she finally agrees to marry this much younger man. When she suddenly vanishes without a trace, suspicion of a scandal results in a mystery leaving those who love her and her readers unsettled.
The parallel story of Harper in 2006 opens the second chapter. Harper is a young woman living on the property of a movie producer in California serving in the role of caterer for the events he hosts that had been her mother’s position before she died. Her imagination fills her mind with stories for possible movie scripts but she has not found anyone interested in her scripts including the producer she works for. A blunder at an event threatens to result in her termination so she resigns before that can happen. She has no family to go to but her mother had close friends in Pennsylvania who were like family and she decides to ask them if she can come for a visit while she determines what to do next. They eagerly welcome her and this sets the stage for how the two main characters (Olivia and Harper) begin to intersect through unusual and mysterious circumstances.
Can Harper find the story she is looking for by looking for what happened to Olivia?
Melanie Dobson has a reader turning page after page as she weaves a story keeping a reader guessing what will happen next and how she will skillfully connect the stories of these two women. Only in the final chapters of this fascinating book will the truth be revealed.
Don’t miss The Lost Story of Via Belle if you enjoy a good fiction story with lots of twists and turns and surprises. I loved it.