Excerpt from Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

As far as Mr. Hosokawa was concerned, his trip was not for the purposes of business, diplomacy, or a friendship with the President, as later would be reported. Mr. Hosokawa disliked travel and did not know the President. He had made his intentions, or lack of intentions, abundantly clear. He did not plan to build a plant. He would never have agreed to a trip to a strange country to celebrate his birthday with people he did not know. He was not much for celebrating his birthday with people he did know, and certainly not his fifty-third, which he considered to be a number entirely without note. He had turned down half a dozen strong requests from...

Reproduced from Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, all rights reserved. Copyright Ann Patchett 2001. Reproduced by the permission of the publisher, HarperCollins.