Byron/Shelley circle in nineteenth-century Italy. Her novels have been published by Severn House (U.K. and U.S.) and Thomas Schluck (Germany), earning starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, as well as a gold medal for historical fiction in the Florida Writers Association's Literary Palm Award. Her work has been featured internationally in blogs, journals, and websites.
McLaughlin applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Lost Dresses of Italy, and reported the following:
On page 69 of The Lost Dresses of Italy, a costume curator, Marianne Baxter, speculates on the contents of a long-hidden, antique trunk in post-WWII Verona, Italy: three Victorian dresses which once belonged to nineteenth-century English poet, Christina Rossetti. As Marianne says, “Aside from the curiosity of how the trunk ended up hidden behind a wall, I can’t help but wonder why there was nothing else in it besides the dresses. A Victorian lady would have had chemises, undergarments, accessories, and the like. So it appears as if only these garments were placed in the trunk...” This line reflects the central mystery in my novel because, even though Marianne has been asked just to create an exhibit of the dresses, she becomes obsessed with finding the reason why Rossetti left them in Italy. They were too expensive simply to be cast aside by a semi-impoverished poet, so the decision to abandon them must have been deliberate. Why? As Marianne prepares the dresses to be exhibited, she finds clues hidden in the pockets, seams, and hems—all pointing to an ill-fated love affair and a conspiracy of betrayal and murder. Paralleling this story is Rossetti’s own tale of her time in Italy and how each dress reflected an emotional turning point, gradually leading to a tragic outcome. Both narratives intertwine like threads in the fabric of both women’s lives, but only one of the heroines will emerge with her heart intact—and page 69 provides the key.Visit M. A. McLaughlin - Marty Ambrose's website.
My Book, The Movie: Forever Past.
The Page 69 Test: Forever Past.
Q&A with Marty Ambrose.
Writers Read: M. A. McLaughlin.
--Marshal Zeringue
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