Contacting the Author
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About Melody Lavrakas
Melody Lavrakas was raised in the San Gabriel Valley in California where she grew up visiting the rolling hills of central California and its sunny beaches. There she fell in love with the golden grasses and majestic oak trees that dotted the landscape and the rhythm and beauty of the waves. Melody loves music and played flute throughout her school years. In her teens, she owned her own horse, a bay with silver mane, and rode through the foothills of Pomona. Here she would attend California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and graduate with a Bachelor of Science for Business, intending to work in the field of marine research in admiration of the sea.
In her early years, her family moved many times and she yearned to settle in one place and to find a lasting friendship. In high school, she found that life-long sisterly friendship which led to finding her true love. Melody married John Lavrakas in 1979 and in 1981 they moved to Washington DC. Together they traveled to Europe, enjoying Vienna, Prague, London, Paris, Berlin, Edinburgh, The Netherlands and Hawaii several times. In 1982 they relocated back to California and started their family, but in 1988 moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they raised their three children. John continued his worked in GPS, and Melody gardened, and began to dabble in writing.
Finally in 2007, with the children grown and gone, thy made one more move to Newport on the Oregon coast, where she volunteered at the Oregon Coast Aquarium for over fifteen years. Melody continues to enjoy music and served on the Newport Symphony Orchestra Board for almost ten years. She finally set these activities aside to pursue her writing seriously.
Melody wrote her first workbook for an after-school program on Oceanography for Kids and taught it to 4th graders. Fifteen years later she wrote Wild Things in My Mountain Garden. Once settled on the Oregon coast, Melody wrote The Need to Say Good Bye and the series of A Long Journey Home ~ (Katherine, Lalani, Shannon & Jessie). In her series A Long Journey Home, she harvests her love for music, horses, California rolling hills, the discoveries of travel, her sense of heritage and history, the beauty of Hawaii and a little romantic fantasy. The A Long Journey Home series reflects the love she and her husband have had over their 47 years of marriage and the sometime difficult decisions women have to make for love and self-fulfillment.
How I Verify My Locations
A story starts with an idea, which leads to a setting. I believe it is best to write about a place where I have actually been, thereby providing a real sense of how it looks and feels and bring authenticity to my writing. Writing historical fiction, I do a lot of research (thank goodness for the internet) which leads me to businesses, homes, and people that actually existed in my story’s time and location. This often expands the arc of the story or adds diversions and interest to my stories. I often travel to my locations and talk to locals to get true stories about the people that lived there and then incorporate them into my stories.
Growing up within blocks of Santa Anita Race track in Southern California, I spent time watching early morning workouts and on occasion placing a bet or two. Most of the locations I write about, I grew up near or have traveled to, such as the rolling hills of central California, touring abandoned gold mines and concert halls in Vienna, Prague and London.
In A Long Journey Home – Jessie, horse racing was going to be the activity around which the story centered, and since Jessie was originally from the Sacramento area, my research, via the internet, led me to the most active racetracks at the time of the story – Tanforan in San Bruno California and Pleasanton Racetrack in Alameda. Tanforan was demolished in 1960, but Golden Gate Field in Berkeley California, although closed, still stands. And Pleasanton (which became Alameda Fairground Track) was active until 2024, making it possible for me to visit two of these locations. In 1925, I made a trip to Golden Gate Field and Alameda tracks to see their oval tracks, grandstands, stables and the surrounding area to gain insight into the atmosphere of what it would have been like in 1924. I did the same for A Long Journey Home ~ Lalani. First, I researched old maps of Honolulu from 1890 and used the internet to learn about actual businesses and the palace that were there at the time. Then in 2025, I was able to visit the locations I had selected for the mercantile, hotel, ranch, and the Iolani Palace, talking with local historians to obtain a more accurate sequence of events regarding the Queen’s surrender. Being there, I was able to write a more compelling story of the time and the surroundings.
Check out my inspiration pages for each of the A Long Journey Home books to find photos and more information on the specific settings for each story.
My family heritage being Scottish, I’m planning to return to Scotland to research old manor houses and castles for my next novel. What fun!
