Counterpoint - Barbara Bergmann

Counterpoint is the tale of two women's love -- lived in terror by one and in celebration by the other. A lesbian in the time of Oscar Wilde, an era when shades of grey did not exist in any perception of 'normal,' Lucia Fitzgerald feels doomed to live on the outside, where she may look in, but never truly belong. Dread of her sexuality dictates her life. 

Deemed 'harrowing and charming, tragic and funny,' Counterpoint is the story of a woman at war with herself. Challenged by poverty, class, and sexism, Lucia is the main melody that plays in counterpoint to the events and characters of 19th century Britain. Resting on a scaffold of historic themes, with the impact of the Industrial Revolution over-arching, events are driven by characters that echo through history. The attitudes and mores of the British upper class are juxtaposed against the equally strong values and traditions of a rising working class. But even as the story rides through 19th century Britain and across the edicts and values of caste and rank, this is more than a rags to riches tale. The inequities that undergird poverty and wealth and the destructive power of homophobia inform the narrative, but ultimately, Counterpoint is about confronting personal challenges.

Music and art flow throughout, with great artists of the era -- Puccini, Mahler, Monet -- populating the story. Counterpoint's central character is viewed through her relationships with three families: the Whitfields, scions of a theatrical dynasty; the St Alyns, a cultured aristocratic family, who display a propensity to push against class; and the Rileys, dedicated socialists with weighty influence in London's East End. But the ribbon tying these disparate characters together is Lucia and Rebecca's love.

As this story concludes, another one is about to begin; with the strains of Puccini arias and Mahler symphonies all but silenced by the din across the channel where the Kaiser rattles his sword.