Author Description

In The Novel Bel Canto, The Vice-president Of A Small Latin American Country And About 50 Others Are Being Held Hostage By Terrorists. They Have Been Held In The Vice-president's Mansion For Months And They Fear They Will Not Survive. Vice President Ruben Iglesias, Who Thought He Would Not Live To Feel Once Again The Sensation Of Grass Beneath His Feet, Stepped Off The Shale Stone Walkway And Sank Into The Luxury Of His Own Yard. He Had Stared At It Every Day From The Living-room Window But Now That He Was Actually There It Seemed Like A New World. Had He Ever Walked Around His Own Lawn In The Evening? Had He Made A Mental Note Of The Trees, The Miraculous Flowering Bushes That Grew Up Around The Wall? What Were They Called? He Dropped His Face Into The Nest Of Deep Purple Blossoms And Inhaled. Dear God, If He Were To Get Out Of This Alive He Would Be Attentive To His Plants. (patchett 2001: 281)--