An American opera singer is entertaining the guests, dignitaries and high-ranking officials from around the world, when suddenly the room is plunged into darkness. In the vice president's mansion in an unnamed South American country, a lavish party is taking place to celebrate the birthday of a visiting Japanese businessman. A virtuoso performance by one of our best and most important writers, Bel Canto is a novel to be cherished. As a reader, you find yourself fervently wanting this captivity to continue forever, even though you know that real life waits on the other side of the garden wall. Bel Canto engenders in the reader the very passion for art and the language of music that its characters discover. Ann Patchett has written a novel that is as lyrical and profound as it is unforgettable.

Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped. At once riveting and impassioned, the narrative becomes a moving exploration of how people communicate when music is the only common language.

Without the demands of the world to shape their days, life on the inside becomes more beautiful than anything they had known before. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots. It is a perfect evening-until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing.

Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr.

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