The Wonder Singer

Mark Lockwood's life is a small one. He s made his living as a freelance writer, producing a series of little books for hire called How to Talk to Your Teen About... But for the past few months he s been at work on a ghostwriting assignment beyond his dreams. To prepare her autobiography, he has been interviewing the internationally renowned diva Merce Casals. When the Senora dies suddenly-floating sizable in her elegant scented bath-she is suddenly a hot property, and a celebrity biographer arrives to take over the writing of her book. But Lockwood realizes this is his one chance at greatness, and so he runs off with the interview tapes. Abetted by the beautiful but scrupulous Perla, the Senora s nurse, and by a female impersonator, who considers himself the diva s greatest fan, Lockwood locks himself into his study, endlessly plays the tapes, and begins to craft his greatest book. Once the three conspirators rescue the Senora s husband from the home she put him in, Lockwood s sense of his own heart begins to expand beyond his considerable imagination. Moving by turns through the diva s lyrical account of her life and the frantic pace of Lockwood s notes from underground, The Wonder Singer portrays for us just what it can mean to live a beautiful life to its fullest.