Voices of Summer Book

In the style of Csardas and The Summer of the Barshinskeys, best-selling author Diane Pearson once again creates a cast of vibrant characters and places them in a dazzling, memorable locale for us to enjoy. Her writing has been called "hauntingly beautiful" and "compelling" by her reviewers and fans, and she is sure to add to her growing popularity with Voices of Summer, in which we visit the shimmering Alps and eavesdrop on the backstage affairs of the little country town of Hochhauser. This Austrian village was no different from any of the others nestled in the Alps, except for one thing - its operetta company. Dreamchild of Willi Zimmerman, the town's exuberant mayor, the company brought music and gaiety to Hochhauser's little theater. It wasn't Salzburg or Vienna, but it had charm and a certain faded elegance. It also had Karl Gesner. Gesner's voice and stage presence made him the matinee idol of the audiences. Unfortunately, this attractiveness did not extend to his personality. Offstage, Gesner was a monster. Each season it became harder and harder to find a soprano willing to appear opposite him, but each season, that was exactly what Franz Busacher, the director, had to do. When, in desperation, Busacher persuaded Therese Aschmann to return to the stage after nearly twenty years in obscurity, years of loneliness and pain, no one could have imagined it was to be the beginning of the most extraordinary season Hochhauser had ever seen - a season of angry scenes and magical transformations, both onstage and off. Above all, it was to be a season in which love blossomed, often in the most unlikely places. Voices of Summer is poignant, funny, romantic, and heartwarming - a gloriously satisfying read.