The Lost Stradivarius

The Lost Stradivarius (1895), by J. Meade Falkner, is a short novel of ghosts and the evil that can be invested in an object, in this case an extremely fine Stradivarius violin. It has been described as "one of Falkner's three celebrated novels" and as a "psychic romance".[1]

The Lost Stradivarius
Cover of the first edition
AuthorJ. Meade Falkner
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror novel
PublisherWilliam Blackwood
Publication date
1895
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages296 pp

Previous owner's ghost

After finding the violin of the title in a hidden compartment in his college rooms, the protagonist, a wealthy young heir, becomes increasingly secretive as well as obsessed by a particular piece of music, which seems to have the power to call up the ghost of the violin's previous owner. Roaming from England to Italy, the story involves family love, lordly depravity, and the tragedy of obsession, all conveyed in a "high" serious tone not uncommon in late Victorian literature. Preceding M. R. James's ghost stories by several years, it has been called the novel James might have written, had he written novels.[2]

Broadcast

In August 2008, a Joanna David reading of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 7.

References
  1. XIX Century Fiction, Part I, A–K (Jarndyce, Bloomsbury, 2019).
  2. Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 112.
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