Absolute Pitch

261 pp. Illustrated by the authors. This story gives an intimate, backstage view of the world of opera seen by the fourteen-year-old daughter of a leading soprano star. Thalia has a fine voice too and is gifted with absolute pitch. But her own talents interest her less than her temperamental mother's career, the opera performances, parties, and rivalries. She makes friends with the singers, the conductors, the reporters, and a brilliant boy violinist. Their doings are colored with the magic of the opera, but most thrilling of all is the moment when Thalia comes to the rescue and saves a performance by her courage and ability to sing.