Review for Vissi d'arte

For anyone who has enjoyed viewing opera, for anyone who has attempted the
discipline of the performing arts, Vissi d'arte starts out with the stepping
stones - the individuals who enroll in opera school, the lessons they must
learn, and the teacher who is an enigma. For anyone who likes a slow build to
passion, Vissi d'arte portrays a group of people who, in working together, find
themselves in turnabouts of attraction and discovery.

The characters
lead the reader on, Max the banker who has always desired to show off his voice
on stage, the young women vying for lead roles, some unsure and one insidious, a
director whose favorites wait on his choice, a journalist who uncovers the
intrigue behind the curtain, and an opera coach whose past is veiled after her
move to Australia.

It's entrancing to identify with a student in the
opera school. Their language lessons and their acting practice are carefully
depicted while the author shows how the intensity of this art and its student
circle can develop into destructive passion. The knives in rehearsal, the parts
that are assigned become prelude to a desperate singer's scheme to obtain a lead
singer's life. But the most operatic of all pasts is that of the teacher,
Harriet Shaw, not known to have sung since she left England.

Realistic
dialogue, details about the restaurants and leased houses the opera students
inhabit, their days off at the ocean are all redolent of the performing artist's
life. If a person wonders how much these lives have to do with the stage's
stories, Vissi d'arte portrays both the discipline and the off-hours release of
this demanding lifestyle.

An opera singer is going to read my novel!

Vissi d'arte is being given, as a birthday present, to an opera singer who was a principal at the Welsh National Opera.

I'm delighted but fearful. What if she hates it?

Murders that look like accidents. An accident that looks like murder.

A psychological thriller.

A couple and their young son burn to death in a house fire. A girl dies from a nut allergy. A woman falls under a train during the rush hour. An accountant falls down the steps to his basement. Their deaths appear to be accidents. Only Gloria knows they were murders, because she murdered them.

Each time she kills someone she buys a doll.

A shy young man who has had a nervous breakdown, advertises for a lodger to solve his financial problems. Gloria moves in. He has no idea she has already murdered six people. His life becomes a nightmare. As her character become more twisted, it is no longer enough to kill her victims. First she must wreck their lives and witness their suffering.

Typical comment:

A cracking read. Tense, taut and blackly humourous, this is wonderful stuff. Gloria is identifiable and unfathomable, and I'm not sure if I like her or not (similarly, I'm unsure whether to feel sorry for Garry or join in with Gloria in her revenge).

Link to US Kindle

Link to UK Kindle

This is a review for Eumeralla. I'm delighted.

'Very well-written indeed for an indie(?) author. The sample is rather extensive and gives a good taste of what to expect for the rest of the book. I'd say it was an ideal holiday book for reading in the sunshine, being set as it is in Australia. In some ways - and I suppose this is a minor criticism - it reminds me of Anna Karenina, as if this was the Australian book that Tolstoy never wrote, and similarly, the first few chapters of Eumeralla aren't exactly a barrel of laughs. That said, I can well imagine this being a very successful and critically-acclaimed book.'

This is a link to the Amazon page for my Kindle e-book: Eumeralla

Eumeralla

Thanks to Mel Jarrett for giving me permission to use this photo.

Eumeralla is about secrets, tragedy and love. It is set in the Australian Outback. Themes running through the novel are family conflicts, adoption and inheritance.

This is a link to the Kindle edition of Eumeralla

My Inspiration

Gertrude Johnson in 1921.

She was the inspiration for the character Harriet Shaw in Vissi d'arte.

My books on Amazon Kindle

To access my books on Amazon Kindle click on the titles below the pictures - a new window will appear.

Vissi d'arte

Eumeralla

On Kindle - Eumeralla & Vissi'darte

My 2 novels Vissi d'arte & Eumeralla are now on Kindle.

Vissi d'arte has already had a good review and 5 stars.

Brief blurb for Vissi d'arte :-

A woman with a secret.
An inquisitive journalist.
An ambitious opera director.
Students with brilliant voices.

All united by their love of opera. Vissi d'arte is about ambition, loyalty, betrayal, secrets, love, adultery, success and failure.

Eumeralla is set in the Australian outback.

If Eleanor could go back 24 years and change things, she'd wish away her children. Eumeralla's themes are, secrets, tragedy, love, family conflicts, inheritance, horses and adoption.