The Lost Stradivarius is a Gothic supernatural novel by John Meade Falkner. It follows a young Oxford man who discovers an old violin and is drawn into a haunting mystery tied to music and the past. It is worth listening to for its atmospheric blend of scholarly life, ghost story, and psychological unease.
“A tale out of season is as music in mourning.” ECCLESIASTICUS 22:6
Letter from Miss Sophia Maltravers to Her
Nephew, Sir Edward Maltravers, Then a
Student at Christ Church, Oxford
13 Pauncefort Buildings, Bath, Oct. 21, 1867
MΏ Šŧĵǡ EŠ΅ĵǡŠ,
It was your late father’s dying request that certain events which occurred in his last years should be communicated to you on your coming of age. I have reduced them to writing, partly from my own recollection, which is, alas! still too vivid, and partly with the aid of notes taken at the time of my brother’s death. As you are now of full age, I submit the narrative to you. Much of it has necessarily been exceedingly painful to me to write, but at the same time I feel it is better that you should hear the truth from me than garbled stories from others who did not love your father as I did.
Readnara
