He doesn't speak Spanish and must use Gen for all communication in the host country. He has a strong bond with his young translator Gen. Katsumi Hosokawa is a Japanese business mogul, who is married with two daughters. In an epilogue that takes place some years later, former hostages Simon Thibault and his wife meet with Gen and Roxane, who are getting married in Italy. All of the hostages are freed except for Hosokawa, who is shot by government forces in the struggle. The two lovers meet in the china closet every night.Īt the end of the novel, the government breaks into the house and kills all the terrorists. The second relationship is between the translator Gen and the young terrorist Carmen, who must keep their love a secret. The first is between Coss and Hosokawa, who develop a deep bond even though they do not speak each other's language and thus cannot communicate verbally. Two major romantic relationships develop as the standoff drags on and serve as the backdrop to the rest of the story. After determining they have too many hostages, the terrorists decide to release all of the hostages except those they deem most likely to return a large ransom. When they realize the President is not in attendance, the terrorist group decides to take the entire party hostage. Near the end of the party, members of a terrorist organization break into the house, intending to take the President of the country hostage. As a not-so-subtle pretext to get Hosokawa to invest in the country, famous American soprano Roxane Coss is scheduled to perform as the highlight of the party.

Set in an unspecified South American country, the story begins at a birthday party thrown at the country's vice presidential home in honor of Katsumi Hosokawa, the visiting chairman of a large Japanese company and opera enthusiast. Opera is a centralizing theme on many levels throughout the story the operatic term bel canto literally means 'beautiful singing.' Many of the characters form unbreakable bonds of friendship, while some fall in love. It was also adapted into an opera in 2015.īased on the Japanese embassy hostage crisis (also called the Lima Crisis) of 1996–1997 in Lima, Peru, the novel follows the relationships among a group of young terrorists and their hostages, who are mostly high-profile executives and politicians, over several months.

It was placed on several top book lists, including Amazon's Best Books of the Year (2001). It was awarded both the Orange Prize for Fiction and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Bel Canto is the fourth novel by American author Ann Patchett, published in 2001 by Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett