Aria

by Susan Segal

Shattered after surviving a boating accident that killed her husband and two children, Eve Miller lies in an Australian hospital, physically recovering yet emotionally dead. But life wants her back and it barges into her room in the form of flamboyant fellow patient, opera singer Isabel Stein. The renowned diva offers to let Eve stay at her country estate outside New York City, where she can recuperate from her injuries and hopefully elude the press who continue to hound her for details of her family tragedy. It is there that Eve meets Noah, Isabel's protEgE (and, perhaps, younger lover?) - a moody composer whose sorrow seems to match Eve's own. Soon Eve finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Noah as well as the emotionally heightened world of opera. Gradually Eve allows herself to open up to opera's magnificent drama, and discovers there is more going on behind the scenes than she knows. This remarkable debut explores women's relationships, the nature of fame, and the forces that keep us going in the face of heartbreak, helping us find a way to heal.
PRAISE:
"Hypnotic...unpredictable...an engrossing novel that takes on big ideas like the dark side of human nature and the perils of fame." --"The New York Times"
"Segal's exceptional debut suggests that fame wanted or not takes its toll no matter how it is acquired.... With razor-sharp insight and adroit imagery, Segal masterfully builds layers of tension by methodically exposing her tragically flawed characters' true motives." --"Publishers Weekly" (STARRED REVIEW)
"A sophisticated meditation on music, grief, and the bond of mother and child, as well as ambition, power, and betrayal....Segal's writing sparkles with originality...Her imagery is precise, a bit satirical...a tender story of one woman's odyssey of rediscovery." --"Dallas Morning News"

260 pages, ebook

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Susan Segal was born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, California.

Segal is the author of the highly praised novel Aria, a Washington Post Fiction List selection. Her short stories have won numerous awards and have appeared or are pending in Redbook, Gravity Pulls You In, Pigeon Pages, Flash Fiction Magazine, Atticus Review, Citron Review, and The Evansville Review, among others, and her feature writing has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Coast Magazine, Preferred Destinations, and other publications.

She received her MFA in fiction from the University of California at Irvine back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and is Professor in the English Department at The University of Southern California, where she teaches fiction writing, editing and literature,

She currently lives in Orange County, California.

Reviews

[Celine Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book! If you loved Bel Canto, you'll love Aria, which also has opera at its center. Aria is heart-wrenching, uplifting, engrossing. You feel for Eve from the very first page and root for her all the way. It's both beautifully written and a page turner, with an unusual story, compelling characters, and deep emotion. Highly recommended.

[Tiffany Hawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written and compulsively readable book that explores grief and the healing power of human relationships, no matter how complicated.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting book that builds to a crescendo, revealing in the end what you wanted to know all along...

[Olivia N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best part was the initial letter responses

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this easy quick read. You do not have to enjoy or know anything about opera music to enjoy this book. It does plunge you into the New York Opera scene with the diva Isabel who takes in Eve after she looses her family during a tragic event at sea. From the beginning I connected with the characters and could feel the distance between Isabel and Eve grow larger and larger. It got a little twisted toward the end. Somewhat of a day time soap opera feel. The choices Eve made through out the book might not have been the best, but we don't know what we would do until confronted with such a situation.

- I did find it strange she called her mom by her first name
- Never really found out if Isabel had it all planned from the beginning or not, which I found unsettling in the end.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aria tells a tale of heartbreak and grief. Humanity shows its compassion after Eve loses her entire family in a boat crash. Yet under certain circumstances compassion can lead to deadlier emotions.