Melody is a 1996 novel by V. C. Andrews. It is the first of the five books in her Logan series.
| Melody | |
|---|---|
First edition of Melody |
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| Author(s) | V. C. Andrews |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Logan |
| Genre(s) | Young adult, Family saga |
| Publisher | |
| Publication date | September 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 373 |
| ISBN | 0-671-53471-8 |
| OCLC Number | 32408946 |
| Followed by | Heart Song 1997 |
Melody Logan is pretty young girl living with her parents Chester and Haille in the coal-mining town of Sewell in Monongalia County, West Virginia. In spite of the poverty she has a happy childhood in a trailer home which she shared with her parents. Her world is shattered however, after her father dies in a tragic coal mine accident. Her beautiful mother seems to be enjoying her new found freedom.
Melody is forced to leave her trailer home one night with her mother and her boyfriend Archie Marlin and live with her father's estranged family in fishing town of Cape Cod after her mother abandons her to pursue a modeling career. Melody is confused and overwhelmed with mixed feelings as she is made to feel unwelcome by her uncle Jacob, her grandparents and her cousin Cary and the constant pressure she feels from her aunt Sara who expects Melody to replace her dead daughter, Cary's twin Laura in every possible way. Melody's only source of joy is her little deaf cousin May.
Soon Melody starts to uncover the deceits and lies and the hidden skeletons in the Logan closet and her life changes forever. To add to her misery, she is mocked by her schoolmates who believe she shares an incestuous relationship with Cary. Abandoned by her mother and finding out her father was not her real father and having no friends, she starts to feel like a true orphan. Her parents' scandalous past, her mother's selfishness and the Logan family's deep hatred for her parents drive her further away and she tries to get back to Sewell, the only home she ever knew.
Her plan does not go well and she is forced to return home with Cary who saves her from a helpless situation. Melody finally makes peace with the Logan family and her inheritance but vows to find her real father. Amidst all this she finds out she likes her distant cousin Cary and their mutual romantic feelings are not so forbidden anymore, since she is not really a Logan. She is, however, not free from the apprehension that a part of Cary's feelings for her might be his obsession with his dead sister Laura Logan, whom he sees in Melody. Melody's father is a family friend of the Logans. A painter named Kenneth. Once Melody found out who her father was, she was told that something tragic happened. Her mother died in a car accident while Archie Marlin survived.