Bel Canto (film): Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction - Softcover

‘A beguiling mix of thriller, romantic comedy, and novel of ideas...Crisply written, immaculately plotted, and often very funny, it is that rarity – a literary novel you simply can’t put down.’ The Times

‘Blissfully romantic ... A terrific, spellcasting story.’ San Francisco Chronicle

‘Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett’s fiction.’ New York Times Review of Books

Winner of the Orange Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The poignant – and at times very funny – novel from the author of State of Wonder and Commonwealth.

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honour of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerised 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.