LITERATURE + LECTURES

Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00pm, Blue Willow Bookshop presents Adrienne McDonnell. Adrienne McDonnell will discuss and sign her new novel, The Doctor and the Diva.

It is 1903, and Erika von Kessler has struggled for years to become pregnant. Resigned to childlessness, Erika-a talented opera singer and the wife of a prominent Bostonian-secretly plans to move to Italy to pursue her musical career. When the charismatic Doctor Ravell takes Erika on as a patient, he is mesmerized by her. Impetuously, he takes a shocking risk that could ruin them both.

Inspired by the author's family history, the novel moves from snowy Boston to the gilded balconies of Florence in a stunning tale of opera, longing, and the indomitable power of romantic obsession.

Adrienne McDonnell has taught literature and fiction writing at the University of California, Berkeley. She has also led writing workshops for adults through UC Berkeley Extension and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Cambridge, MA. McDonnell was once a children’s librarian at the Boston Public Library. She lives near San Francisco. This is her first novel.