Ponselle, a Singer's Life

I confess to vast ignorance about Mme Ponselle until I read this book and still have never heard any of her recordings (which are well chronicled here and which I now must get!) -- but, despite knowing only the sketchiest details of her meteoric career, I found this chronicle nearly impossible to put down. The author skillfully weaves interviews with Ponselle and her associates, friends, and enemies into a page-turner, at times offering Rashoman-type takes of the same event so the reader has a real sense of the complexities of human relationships and characters in the high-intensity creative world of music. Some knowledge of opera in general may help, but even a neophyte will come off the last page of this fascinating book feeling a part of that rarified and dynamic art form.