Carol J Kennedy

Winthrope: Tragedy to Triumph Carol J Kennedy

A Victorian tale of a bride, Marianne Mandeville, who enjoys a contented life on their vast estate, Winthrope. A free-spirited, loving woman who pleases her adoring husband but vexes her mother-in-law and parents. They feel she should be more sophisticated and not so generous and kind to the Roma people who have set camp on the estate. After the devastating loss of her beloved, Marianne resumes life without the free spirit and desire to keep living. The discovery of a sheet of music leads her to a baby that the Romas found in a carriage accident near the estate. They deliberately left the child for her to discover hoping she will regain her will to live. Assuming the man and woman killed in the carriage were the child's mother and father, Marianne sets out to find any other living relatives, years of searching always ends without discovering anyone. Marianne takes the baby as her own and regains her spirit and love of life. She names the child Georgiana after the mysterious piece of music with the title "Georgiana" that was discovered in the trunks from the carriage accident. Happy times pass as Georgiana grows into a replica of Marianne. During a ride in the country, Georgiana foils an attempt by highwaymen to kidnap a gipsy child. Now beholden to Georgiana for saving a gipsy life they repay her with hidden letters they took from the carriage accident years earlier. They intentionally kept the papers hidden so that Marianne could keep the baby. Those papers reveal who her real mother and father are. While playing the mysterious piece of music "Georgiana" at an open window in their London townhouse, a passer-by from America overhears it, recognizes it as the unpublished piece her brother wrote. From that Georgiana's life unravels into breathtaking events that lead to her roots, and also to Marianne finding love from a man she never thought could exist. Author's note: this "true" story came to me suddenly through music. Without the help of Array, a gipsy king, and his god the story could not have been written. Indeed, voices from the past.