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The Songbook of Benny Lament - A Note

3/16/2021

5 Comments

 
I proposed The Songbook of Benny Lament to my publisher in 2019 and finished it in early 2020, right before the world was gripped in our current troubles. I had no sense of what was coming when I wrote about Benny and Esther and the world they lived in. I had no idea how complicated life would become. In some ways, it made the complicated nature of the past easier to understand.

When I told my mom I was writing a historical love story set in the 60s, she said, "The 1960s isn't historical." Meaning: "I was alive then, so it wasn't that long ago." No, Mom. It wasn't that long ago. And unlike some of the novels I've written, there was no comfortable distance from the setting or the time.

I wasn’t alive in the sixties. I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of the decade this story was set in—not the music scene, the Mafia life, the political climate, or the civil rights movement. I was not there. But when the idea for this story took root in me, it flowered quickly. Benny and Esther started talking, and I wasn't about to ignore them. I wrote their story, and I poured my whole self into it.
When I was finished, I sent it to a handful of beta readers. Sher, who happens to be a Black woman and a pianist, shared her thoughts with me after she was done. She loved the book and had great feedback. As we visited about different aspects of the music world and the story, our conversation inevitably led to the concept of identity and how my skin color is different from Esther's. We talked about the task and the test of writing a character who is not ME. That made me laugh a little, because in eighteen novels, I've never written a character who IS me. Men, women, and children from all walks of life and experiences stroll the pages of my books and tell their stories.

Esther Mine and Benny Lament are not Amy Harmon. They are my creations, but they are not me. And though my characters are born in my heart and raised with my research, the hope is that they will become real to my readers, and that they will be authentic to the actual people who have lived similar experiences. That is the test and the responsibility.

As I told Sher, I may not be the same color as Esther. I may not be Sicilian like Benny. I definitely don't play the piano like he does. But we are the same more than we are different. We may not share an entire identity--no two people do--but we share a world. I share Benny's love of music and his passion for creation. I share Esther's hopes and her fears as a woman, a daughter, and a sister. I share Benny's complicated feelings about family, and Esther's desire to be part of something bigger and something better. In truth, I had no trouble "being" Esther or Benny at all.

That is the magic of books. Of stories. We become someone else. We walk inside them. We go where they've been and where they're going. And the walls between us and them disappear. Every reader can attest to this.

Finally, this book isn't a story about trauma. It's a story about triumph. About love. About family. It's a story about music, and how it heals and holds and helps us along when everything else fails. I hope you feel every note in The Songbook of Benny Lament. I know I did.
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5 Comments
Dorothy Weis
7/18/2021 11:05:11 am

I just finished The Song Book of Benny Lament it was wonderful. In my opinion it should be required reading for high school.

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Lisa Faircloth
1/15/2022 09:28:01 am

Oh my goodness. I was so caught up in ALL of the characters. Usually a read has one or two that lead, but each one held my heart. I I’ve in the South, born and raised. My parents were from that era, mom from North, dad South. Very authentic!

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Darlene Jones link
10/29/2023 05:53:33 pm

I read The Songbook of Benny Lament, then Where the Lost Wander, and now I'm reading The Unknown Beloved. You write beautiful, captivating stories. I'm telling everyone I know about your books. Thank you for your work to create such pleasure for readers.
Darlen

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Susan Gardner
4/29/2024 03:19:05 pm

I really loved this story. I play the piano and was so intrigued by his talent. I am Italian heritage and was definitely interested in the references to the Mob. The story just spoke to my heart. I had to wait after reading a few chapters to let it sink in. The characters were so REAL and I miss them already! Thank you for a wonderful book.

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Julie D Ewart link
11/18/2024 09:31:57 pm

I just finished The Songbook of Benny Lamento, and I loved it in a way that I haven't loved any book in a long time. While recognizing that Benny and Esther were fictional, the world they inhabited was very real, and the racial challenges tbey faced highly relevant for our troubled current times. The Barry Gray Show's last program of the 60s was the perfect backdrop for Benny to tell his story, which was intertwined with real people and occurrences of the music industry, the Mob, U.S. politics and the civil rights movement. Some writers are great at developing fully dimensional and distinct characters, and some are wonderful.at creating sexual tension. This was only my second novel by Amy Harmon, but I truly appreciate her marvelous ability to envelop me as a reader in deep and abiding love between two people that goes far beyond the physical. This book really inspired me amid a very depressing time, and I didn't want it to end. Thank you, Amy Harmon.

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