Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening-until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots, intimate friends, and lovers.

"Patchett doing what she does best. . . . What gives this novel its power is Patchett's flair for sketching the subtleties of her characters' behavior."-New York Times Book Review

Freshman Common Book: NYU/Steinhardt School, Converse College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 08/02/2005
ISBN: 9780060838720
Pages: 318
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.32w x 0.83d

Review Citations: Ingram Advance 08/01/2005 pg. 38 - Best Of The Best/Highly Recommended
Entertainment Weekly 06/29/2012 pg. 77

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 155131 / Bel Canto
Reading Level: 6.3 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 19