Wesley Stace

The first stanzas of his song “Miss Fortune”–about an abandoned baby–left the musician/songwriter John Wesley Harding itching to tell the rest of the story. So he wrote an entire novel, “Misfortune,” under his real name, Wesley Stace. This elaborate and occasionally raunchy tale, told in Dickensian style, follows the baby as it is found by the wealthy Lord Loveall, who is thrilled to have a daughter and lavishes her with luxuries. How lucky for her–except that baby Rose is a boy. The tale that unfolds is peppered with vivid detail and lively dialogue, making it easy to see why publishers pounced on this first novel.