Now a major motion picture starring Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe.
New York Times Bestseller
Ann Pratchett?s award winning, bestselling novel that balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language?now a major motion picture starring Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe.
?Blissfully romantic?. A terrific, spellcasting story.? ? San Francisco Chronicle
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.

Ann Patchett is the author of six novels and three books of nonfiction. She has won many prizes, including Britain's Orange Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Prize, and the Book Sense Book of the Year. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the co-owner of Parnassus Books.