An Aria for George

After a cardiac arrest in 1977, the famous opera singer George London could not speak or walk. For nearly eight years, the tall, handsome, Canadian-born basso lived an inactive existence, looked after by his wife before he died in 1985. In this moving book, she describes her childhood in Berlin, France and New York; her 10-year, unsatisfying first marriage; meeting with London; divorce; and ""the joys, the tears, the enchantment, the frustrations'' of their life together. There are chapters on his career at the Metropolitan Opera, in Vienna, Bayreuth and Russia, and, after he lost his voice, his accomplishments as a coach and director at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Lovers of opera and readers touched by examples of courage and fortitude will be attracted to this inspiring story. (August 17)