Lucy Gayheart is Willa Cather's eleventh novel. It was published in 1935. The novel revolves round the eponymous character, Lucy Gayheart, a young girl from the fictional town of Haverford, Nebraska, located near the Platte River. History Some sources indicate that Cather began writing Lucy Gayheart in 1933. Scholar Melissa Homestead argues instead that she truly began writing in the summer of 1932. Some sources agree with her. Others are imprecise or ambiguous. It appears that Cather began speaking about the story Blue Eyes on the Platte, her initial and intended name for Lucy Gayheart, as early as the 1890s (using the name Gayhardt instead of Gayheart, based on a woman she met at a party), and may have begun writing as early as 1926. While she intended to name the novel Blue Eyes on the Platte early on, she changed the title and made Lucy's eyes brown. However, scholar Janis P. Stout suggests mention of Blue Eyes on the Platte may have been facetious, only beginning to write and think about Lucy Gayheart in 1933. This is contradicted by Cather's lifelong partner and editor, Edith Lewis, insisting that not only did she begin working on Blue Eyes on the Platte "several years before" 1933, but that it was the precursor to Lucy Gayheart. Regardless of which of these details are true, it is known that Cather reused images from her 1911 short story, "The Joy of Nelly Deane", in Lucy Gayheart. "The Joy of Nelly Deane" may be best understood as an earlier version of Lucy Gayheart altogether. Plot summary Book I: Lucy Gayheart On Christmas holiday away from her piano studies in Chicago, Lucy Gayheart is ice skating in her hometown of Haverford, Nebraska. Harry Gordon, the most eligible bachelor in town, joins her. Later she takes the train back to Chicago - he is with her until the Omaha stop. In a prolepsis, she recalls going to a performance by Clement Sebastian and later to an audition with him - she has one scheduled for her return. Back in Chicago then, she goes to a concert by the same artist. The next day she goes to his place for a singing practice, and meets his valet Giuseppe. She will replace Sebastian's accompanist, James Mockford, whilst the latter is convalescent. During these practice sessions, Clement Sebastian seems distant. Once he gets a call asking for money, which must