Music in the Night

Music in the Night
First edition of Music in the Night
Author(s)	V. C. Andrews
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Logan
Genre(s)	Young adult, Family saga
Publisher	Pocket
Publication date	March 1998
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	315
ISBN	0-671-53474-2
OCLC Number	32408946
Preceded by	Unfinished Symphony 1997
Followed by	Olivia 1999

Music in the Night is the fourth book in the Logan series by V. C. Andrews. The book was printed in 1998, and details the life of Laura Logan before she had died.

Plot summary

This book happens before Melody comes to live with her mother's family. It is the journal of Laura Logan, which is kept by the asylum she was housed in after the boating accident in which she and her boyfriend were presumed dead.

The story is set in Cape Cod with Laura as the main character. It begins with her in her early teens. Much of Laura's life centers around her close-knit, religious family. Her parents are strict with her and she is not allowed to do anything that is not "decent" or "proper", which includes beach parties with the girls at school, dances, and normal teenage frivolity. She lives with her mother (Sara), her father (Jacob), a younger hearing-impaired sister (May), and her fraternal twin brother (Cary). She also has an aunt named Belinda, who lives in the same asylum that eventually Laura is taken to. Belinda is the black sheep of the family, cast out because of her promiscuity and drug use, and the grandmother of Melody, who is the main character in the series. The family is domineered by Laura's grandmother Olivia, who lives with Laura's grandfather Samuel in a mansion across town, and is highly concerned with the family's reputation and social standing. Many of the skeletons in the family's closet are Olivia's handiwork. Laura is a mild-mannered gentle girl who lives life for her family, working on needlepoint, helping around the house and with the family businesses, harvesting cranberries and fishing. The family goes to church and eats dinner with her grandparents on Sundays, giving her grandmother ample opportunities to assert her control over the family. Laura and her twin are each others closest friends. They walk to and from school, eat lunch, and spend much of their free time together in Cary's special attic hideaway. Their closeness sparks rumors at school of an unnatural love between siblings, and the wealthy privileged girls ridicule Laura and Cary, calling him Grandpa and saying he wishes Laura was his girlfriend. These rumors make Cary moody, and defensive while Laura reacts with confusion and sadness. They create a tiny rift between the twins, making them uncomfortable and conscious of every move they make.

Laura and her brother begin to grow farther apart when a boy named Robert Royce moves into town. His family buys an old house with the intention of fixing it up and turning it into an inn for tourists, something her grandmother disapproves of as tourists supposedly ruin the integrity of their community. Laura is immediately taken with Robert, who is her first real crush. He begins to walk her to and from classes, eat lunch with her, write love letters and eventually asks her out on a real date. Her parents give the approval for her to go, but with strict rules, cautioning her not to do anything that would embarrass the family or tarnish their reputation. Eventually, their first date blossoms into a teen romance and Robert becomes Laura's first boyfriend. Throughout their courtship Cary treats Robert with hostility and objects to Laura dating him, making her wonder if the rumors have a grain of truth to them and if Cary's jealousy is more than brotherly. He begins to shut himself up his attic hideaway, withdrawing from Laura and the family. He follows Laura on her first date to a school dance with Robert and secretly spies on her while she is alone in her room. Cary reads Robert's love letters to Laura and betrays Laura by relaying the information to her grandmother, who forbids Robert and Laura to see each other. However, Laura secretly continues her relationship with Robert, meeting him and his house when his parents are away. Laura tries to ease the tension between her boyfriend and her brother, but Cary resists her attempts and shuts himself up in the attic workshop, supposedly building model ships. We find out later in the novel Melody that Cary actually spent his time spying on Laura and there are many implications that he did fall in love with his sister not only in this book, but later in the series as well. It is obvious Cary has no problem with incest considering later on he and Melody (who is presumed to be Laura and Cary's cousin) fall in love and become involved.

Laura is presumed dead after she and Robert are caught in a storm while she is teaching him to sail. The two of them plan a day of sailing and a picnic lunch in a hidden cove they discovered on their last sailing venture. They make it to the cove and begin making love when Laura realizes that a storm is brewing and their boat will be carried away, leaving them stranded on the cove. When they attempt to retrieve the boat, Robert is struck in the head and knocked unconscious, rendering him unable to help Laura who is naked and drowning. A kindly fisherman who recognizes Laura as a part of the prestigious Logan family rescues her and takes her to her grandparents house after covering her with his jacket. When Olivia interrogates Laura as to her whereabouts, and her nakedness, we discover that Laura has amnesia brought on by the trauma of the accident. She can't remember her name, who Olivia is, how she got there or why she's unclothed. Olivia, in order to avoid scandal, and gossip takes Laura to an asylum without consulting her parents or ever even telling them she's alive. Robert's body is recovered and funeral services are held for both of them. It can be assumed money changes hands between the grandmother and asylum officials because they pretty much keep her prisoner, preventing her from leaving and denying she's made progress even though she is starting to have fragments of memories. In the asylum Laura befriends a patient who's been there so long that even though he knows how to get out, he's afraid to leave. He shows Laura a door that remains unlocked, and helps her to sneak out for fresh air. The journal ends with Laura writing that she hears Robert's voice from the sea calling her, and believing they'll be reunited, she follows his voice and drowns.

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