The hearth. Absolutely the hearth. That's a powerful, powerful symbol.

Betsy, I think I cross those: the hearthstones are the ones covered by the delapidated storage box in the yard. Down by the river, covered with 150 years or so of London grime....

OK. Filing that one in mental notes.

But, what did the sister who died care about? It could be bits of the old stable if she loved horses; or the fireplace mantel if she were a homebody; the hearth, as Betsy said; or, perhaps the grand piano or a harp or something in or around the music room if she were musical. A stone gargoyle if she were fanciful. I would think it would be effective to have whatever she's tied to be at least a little illustrative of her personality or interests.

Deena, thing is, the backstory can be set around a) the surface of the song lyric, b) the characters as they develop, and c) the location itself.

Some of the magic elements in the song are going byebye, obviously; talking harps are purely metaphorical in detective fiction.

But the ghost, in this instance, is unlikely to be the drowned sister. She died in the river. The ghost in this instance would likely be the murderess, the younger sister. And what I have to write as the basis of the novel's discovery - the actual story - is what Ringan and Penny find out that the song doesn't tell the world. (edit: including how she died, and how she came to be haunting the house. Was she struck down by the wussy fiance? By her father? Was she a suicide, unable to face arrest and trial? How did the truth come out? I won't know this until I write it.)

But this is several months down the road. Need to finish the third book and there's another one, non-series, that's already three chapters in and on which I'm collaborating, so Matty and that one take precedence.

Loreena McKennit does a version of that song as well.

"Sister, dear sister, pray lend me your hand
And I will give you house and land..."

t stretches

I just put all (nearly all of) my acrostics here.

A couple of them I posted here, ages ago.

Child ballad #10, the Bows of London (my mispelling, sorry):

[link]

Hmmm. I must be getting old. Fiddle, not harp (how could I forget the "fool with a fiddle come a-riding by?") Bows, not boughs (note to self, ask Martin what the song refers to). And the theme of the one done by Pentangle was the same, but the song was different....

Liz, honey, you write pretty, pretty acrostics. Between you and Steph, I'm feeling lovely.

edit: and this one was Pentangle's song, "Cruel Sister", a much darker lyric than Bows of London....

[link]

Oh, Deb, I didn't realize who the ghost was. That will make for a much more intense and intriguing tale. I can't wait to read it. Of course, I still haven't read the last one you sent me; lazy, lazy, lazy, as my mother would say. Or, you know, busy or something. I can't seem to find time to read anymore. I don't know where the time goes some days.

RL, you write beautiful poetry. I very much enjoy your acrostics.

Deena, the entire basis of this pile o' stuff is that the song is just PR, and generally either a) doesn't tell the whole story, or b) was put out to actively hide the real story.

So the real story behind this one would have to be a corker.

Damn! Back to 1,248,000 on Amazon. Someone must have found another truck full of OotP....