Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • Winner of the Orange Prize • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century""Bel Cantois its own universe. A marvel of a book.""-Washington Post Book WorldNew York Timesbestselling author Ann Patchett's spellbindingnovel about love and opera, and the unifying ways people learn to communicate across cultural barriers in times of crisisSomewhere 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's lyrical prose and lucid imagination makeBel Cantoa captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.