University students Mishka and Leela meet and fall in love. When Mishka's name is linked with a terrorist bombing, Leela must decide who to trust.

Janette Turner Hospital’s novel Orpheus Lost (Fourth Estate, 2007), gives a modern twist to the Greek myth of Orpheus. A longlist selection for the 2008 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Orpheus Lost is an intricate examination of the complex nature of love and trust

Orpheus and Eurydice

Orpheus was an enchanting musician, whose music was irresistible and entrancing to all. He fell in love with and married the dryad Eurydice. She died after stepping on a poisonous snake while fleeing from the amorous advances of Aristaeus.

In his grief, Orpheus followed her to the Underworld, playing his lyre to enchant the guard dog Cerberus and to charm Hades and Persephone to release Eurydice. She was released with the condition that he could not turn back to look at her before reaching the sunlight. Losing patience just before reaching the sunlight, he caught only a glimpse of her before she returned forever to the Underworld.

Plot of Orpheus Lost

Australian student and gifted musician Mishka Bartok is studying music in Boston. He enthral others with the passion of the music he creates, including Leela, a mathematical genius and postgraduate student at MIT. She hears Mishka playing his violin in the subway and can’t resist the siren call of his music and the two soon become lovers.

When a local train is targeted by terrorists, Mishka is suspected of connections with the bombing and Leela is interrogated. Her childhood friend Cobb runs the investigation. When someone connected with the bombing approaches Mishka with information about his Lebanese father, he naively travels to Beirut where he is captured, interrogated and tortured

Leela must choose who to believe and trust, Cobb or Mishka, as she fights her growing desperation to find Mishka.

Themes and Preoccupations

Mishka is Orpheus, the hypnotic musician. Leela is Eurydice, entrancing and beautiful. As Cobb chases her for information about Mishka and because of his own attraction to her, he causes her to doubt Mishka and their relationship. In a twist on the original tale, it is Mishka who descends into hell and Leela’s persistence and enduring love that calls him back.

The role childhood influences and events play in the shaping of adult responses and behaviour is illustrated. Leela and Cobb share a complex childhood history. Leela’s life in Boston reflects her need to separate herself from her childhood home of Promised Land. Cobb’s inability to distance himself emotionally from Leela demonstrates his inability to separate himself from his past.

Mishka’s family background is one of secrets and eccentricity. Isolated from other children until he begins school, he never truly learns to communicate easily without music.

There are numerous dream and musical analogies and references to highlight and illustrate the novels central themes.

Orpheus Lost Summary

Orpheus Lost is a complex novel that compares the way individuals deal with the issues of their pasts. The first half of the novel is largely an examination of the relationships and backgrounds of the central characters with the action of the story occurring in the second half. Surprisingly, given the Miles Franklin award nomination, the only Australian content to the novel is Mishka’s family background in Australia, with the majority of the novel taking place in the US.

The Author

Janette Turner Hospital is an award winning Australian fiction writer. She has won a number of prizes for her previous works, which include seven novels and three short story collections. She has been a previous finalist of the Miles Franklin Literary Award with her novel Oyster (Knopf,1996) and has received several other distinguished Australian literary prizes.

Orpheus Lost is a novel for those who enjoy novels with depth and complexity to their central characters.

Further reading: Music Themes in Orpheus Lost