Intersection Column | The World with Grace

by Melanie Dobson

As I was growing up in the farmlands of Central Ohio, books were my best friends. My family didn’t have a bookstore or library nearby, but whenever the bookmobile made its rounds through our county, I would pedal my red Huffy to its stop for a fresh trove of reading material.

I wasn’t allowed—for good reason—to read the steamy romance novels of that era, but I could check out anything by the Christian novelist Grace Livingston Hill. Happiness Hill. Spice Box. The Enchanted Barn. I loaded my bicycle basket with her stories of history, romance, mystery, and faith, then spent much of my week exploring the world with Grace.

Around the age of twelve, I decided that I wanted to be just like Grace Livingston Hill when I grew up. I began writing my own stories, usually with a big idea and much enthusiasm that fizzled as I crept toward what I now call the messy middle. I didn’t know in those preteen years that I needed to press through my middles. In fact, it would take another fifteen years before I learned how to finish a novel.

While Grace wrote beautifully about love and redemption, her real life wasn’t nearly as romantic as her stories. She experienced tremendous grief in marriage and was frequently criticized for writing inspirational plotlines during the rise of pulp fiction. But even though her journey was often hard, Grace found joy through her faith. Near the end of her life, she said: “I feel that there is enough sadness and sorrow in the world. So I try to end all my books as beautifully as possible, since that is God’s way and the best way.”

Grace remained faithful to her calling, ultimately publishing more than a hundred novels. When she passed away in 1947, a page for Mary Arden was in her typewriter. Her daughter Ruth Livingston Munce finished writing that final novel.

About thirty years ago, I decided to revisit the dream of my youth and became an ardent student of fiction—reading, studying, writing, and most importantly, revising what I’d already written. I learned how to create believable characters, clean up the messy middles, and share my faith naturally through story. And I learned how to finish my work. My first novel was published in 2005, and while I’m far from Grace’s hundred mark, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to publish more than thirty books.

Through the years, as I learned more about Grace’s tenacity and courage, I wanted to write a story inspired by the turmoil, loss, and redemption in her personal life. After visiting her home and writing space in Pennsylvania, my idea grew into a dual-timeline mystery about a novelist named Via Belle who slowly realizes, after marrying her second husband, that she’s been manipulated into a dangerous scheme. Via disappears, and sixty years later, a screenwriter named Harper determines to find out what happened to her and her final manuscript.

On one hand, The Lost Story of Via Belle is a novel about betrayal as the main characters try to unravel and escape the antagonist’s conspiracy, but ultimately, it’s about redemption and reconciliation. My hope is that this novel will intrigue and encourage today’s readers—like Grace encouraged me—as it honors her life and story.

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About the Author

Writing fiction is Melanie Dobson's excuse to immerse herself in the past by reading old books, interviewing new friends, and exploring fascinating places around the world. She is the award-winning author of almost thirty novels including The Wings of Poppy Pendleton and Catching the Wind. Five of her novels received Carol Awards, and The Black Cloister was named the Foreword Religious Fiction Book of the Year. When she's not writing, Melanie enjoys kayaking, teaching creative writing, and connecting with readers at melaniedobson.com.

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About the Book

Searching for a story to adapt for film, an aspiring screenwriter becomes captivated by a bestselling classic novel and the mysterious disappearance of the woman who wrote it in this dual-timeline historical mystery.