Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Bel Canto

  • By: Ann Patchett
  • Narrated by: Anna Fields
  • Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (248 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Bel Canto

By: Ann Patchett
Narrated by: Anna Fields
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

“Blissfully Romantic.... A strange, terrific, spellcasting story.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

Bel Canto...should be on the list of every literate music lover. The story is riveting, the participants breathe and feel and are alive, and throughout this elegantly-told novel, music pours forth so splendidly that the reader hears it and is overwhelmed by its beauty.” (Lloyd Moss, WXQR)

“Glorious.” (The New Yorker)

Ann Patchett’s award winning, New York Times best-selling Bel Canto balances themes of love and crisis as disparate characters learn that music is their only common language. As in Pratchett’s other novels, including Truth & Beauty and The Magician’s Assistant, the author’s lyrical prose and lucid imagination make Bel Canto a captivating story of strength and frailty, love and imprisonment, and an inspiring tale of transcendent romance.

©2001 Ann Patchett (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Border of Paradise cover art
A Hundred Suns cover art
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse cover art
The Time Traveler's Wife cover art
The Count of Monte Cristo cover art
Anna Karenina cover art
South of Broad cover art
The Murmur of Bees cover art
In Darkness, Look for Stars cover art
Cats cover art

Critic reviews

  • 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction
  • Book Sense Book of the Year Award Winner, Paperback, 2003
  • PEN/Faulkner Award Winner, 2002

"Patchett can be counted on to deliver novels rich in imaginative bravado and psychological nuance. This fluid and assured narrative...demonstrates her growing maturity and mastery of form." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mixing art and politics can have unexpected results, but rarely are they so poignant....[Anna Fields'] performance is the essence of Bel Canto, easy, pure of tone, with an agile, precise vocal technique." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Bel Canto

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    150
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    142
  • 4 Stars
    58
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    132
  • 4 Stars
    57
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

really page tuener

gripping and touching and beautifully written. compassionate view of life. the characters are totally believable and their relationships unusual

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A powerful story

I enjoyed this book. It is a tragic story, but it ends with hope. The narration was good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gorgeous story and writing

Didn’t want this book to end - beautiful writing, characters you care about and excellent sensitive narration
Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyable listen!

Very easy listening while at the same time well written. I really enjoyed this one - listened over the course of a weekend of covid and have to say it made the time fly by!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A wonderfully written book

Somehow a very compelling read and wonderfully performed. Such a simple story but rich in observation of human behaviour.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Just wonderful!

Beautiful and sad in equal measure. Exquisitely written and very well read. You can hear the music through the author's words.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful sad lyrical

I first heard this book many years ago, when won the orange prize. I’m now reading it again, or listening to it again, and I loved it the first time round, but adored it this time round. It is a magical beautiful story that extremely sad. I love Ann Patchett’s work,but particularly love this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and unusual

Unusual, mesmerising story, so cleverly and effortlessly switching between the narrative voices of several characters. Slow paced but utterly absorbing. I could picture the house, the garden, the piano and the china closet so distinctly, felt completely absorbed. Hard to say much about it without giving plot spoilers but overall a sumptuous and enchanting read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant beguiling breathtaking

beautifully written. a fabulous story. perfectly described. captivating idea beautifully crafted. every character ideally imagined. bravo another masterpiece

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bel Canto

Beautiful story and very well read. Really a must listen with a great pace. it's an extrapolation of a true story that happened in the Japanese what in Lima.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!