Vissi d'arte - Love and Music [Kindle Edition]

Joanna Stephen-Ward (Author)

Book Description

A woman with a secret.
An inquisitive journalist.
An ambitious young theatre director.
Student opera singers with brilliant voices.

Young singers at an opera school learn drama, music, movement and languages. Their passion for opera unites them. Their love affairs, ambition and political views divide them.

Nicholas arrives in Melbourne from swinging London in 1968. Baffled by the cultural differences he struggles to adjust. He and his aunt, Harriet, quarrel when she refuses to allow him to update operas and the critics scorn the productions she forces on him.

The novel follows the progress of five young singers from their auditions to the start of their professional careers.

The lives of the characters entwine. Love affairs begin and end. Friends and enemies are made. Arguments about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War erupt. Convention competes with change. Harriet has a dark secret which is in danger of being made public. Past and present collide as the forces from the past wreak their destruction.

Vissi d’arte is about opera, a mystery, ambition, love, betrayal, success and failure.

Product Details

• File Size: 835 KB
• Print Length: 451 pages
• Publisher: Popham Gardens Publishing (February 3, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004NNVWDE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,053 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful andf perfectly-paced March 30, 2011

By Dan Holloway

Format:Kindle Edition

This is an utterly exquisite experience for anyone who wants to lose themselves in a world of the senses. But, for all it is set in a world where music is the air the characters breathe, it never gets bogged down, never lets up the beautifully-paced narration. A joy

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Read July 14, 2011

By Agnes Irene

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Another great book by Joanna Stephen-Ward. Set predominantly in Australia, the story takes the reader into the world of opera training in Melbourne's National Theatre. The story itself is "operatic" in the high drama that takes place among the students and their choices in life and love. As in her book Eumeralla, much of the story pivots around a secret. The author makes interesting choices and introduces plot twists that take the reader by surprise. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, the story moves in an unexpected direction, but one that makes sense, as if you should have seen it coming all along.
The story weaves the ordinary with the extraordinary, old age with youth, success with failure. Gawky youths become magnificent divas, transformed by the magic of art, music, costumes - and rigorous discipline; then off-stage they once again become young people who must deal with their insecurities, doubts, and day to day concerns.
Reading about the main character alone makes this book worthwhile. Harriet Shaw, the fictional founder of the National Theatre, captures our attention by her forceful personality, her commitment to art, and the power her secret has over her (I love reading about older heroines and they're not that easy to come by). Ward's books have a movie-like quality to them: rich in drama, incredibly visual, and inhabited by engaging characters who are strong and unpredictable, yet always identifiable.

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Promising new author! Characters you'll love! February 15, 2011

By Rhonda Parker

Format:Kindle Edition

This is a great Kindle read! The novel follows the progress of five young singers from their auditions to the start of their professional careers.

The lives of the characters entwine. Love affairs begin and end. Friends and enemies are made. Arguments about Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War erupts. Convention competes with change. Harriet's secret is in danger of being made public. Past and present collide as the forces from the past wreak their destruction.
A promising Aussie author with a fresh voice and a knack for brilliant characterization! I highly recommend!

More About the Author

Turbulent family relationships, secrets and tragedy were the inspiration behind Eumeralla. Born in the Australian outback, Joanna was adopted and grew up in Melbourne. She knew who her biological father was, but the identity of her biological mother was kept secret.

In 2010 her sister found her on Face Book. They were last together on a verandah in the Australian outback when Joanna was six months old and her sister was two years old. Their joyful reunion took place in Cornwall, England in 2012.

Vissi d'arte was inspired by Gertrude Johnson, the charismatic founder of the Australian National Theatre and Joanna's three years at The National Theatre Opera School.

Wanderlust overwhelmed her and she spent a year travelling through Europe and the UK. Instinctively knowing that her destiny lay in England, she settled in London where she worked for the National Health Service, while attending part-time drama school.

She found love and married Peter, an architect, in the ancient church of St Peter's in Petersham. She and Peter joined the Richmond Writers' Circle in 1997 and she became the chairman eighteen months later. While working full time at The National Archives in Kew, and running the writers circle, she completed three novels.

She is working on a detective novel set in Cornwall and a sequel to Eumeralla.