Lucy Gayheart

Lucy Gayheart is the novel’s protagonist and primary point-of-view character. Her main characteristics are traits of youthful energy, optimism, and enthusiasm. Her surname, Gayheart, symbolically reinforces the salience of her enthusiastic disposition. Lucy was born and raised in the small town of Haverford, Illinois. She highly values art, emotion, and passion. At the beginning of the main narrative, she is 20 years old and has been studying music in Chicago since she was 18 years old. She returns to Haverford for breaks and holidays. During the winter of 1901, while in Chicago, she meets Clement Sebastian, a middle-aged man who works as a professional classical singer. Lucy and Sebastian soon fall in love, despite the differences in their ages and general outlooks on life. Lucy rejects a marriage proposal from Harry Gordon, a young man she has known since childhood, due to her love for Sebastian.

After Sebastian accidentally...