The diva and the ghost writer

George Rabasa
Twin Cities writer George Rabasa was born in Maine, but grew up in Mexico. He had little interest in opera when he began writing "The Wonder Singer," but says he is now hooked.
Photo by Keri Picket, courtesy Unbridled Books

Minneapolis author George Rabasa's new novel explores love, opera and the agony of writing.

"The Wonder Singer" is the story of Mark Lockwood, who is hired to ghost-write the autobiography of an aging operatic diva.

When she dies suddenly, leaving him with hours of interview tapes, he realizes he has the greatest story of his life, but he faces the greatest struggle of his life to tell it.

George Rabasa told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that he didn't start out to write about opera -- his interest was more in the plight of the ghost writer.

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