TENOR OF LOVE

The legendary tenor Enrico Caruso is the center of the romantic universe for three women in this sensually written but occasionally overwrought novel. The young opera singer is 24 when he comes to Livorno, Italy, in 1897, and finds lodging with the Giachetti family. Sixteen-year-old Rina is instantly enamored of "Rico," but it is her older, married sister, Ada—a fellow singer, vain but talented and liberated—whom Enrico idolizes. Soon the sisters are competing for his attentions, sparking a decades-long feud that ends in heartbreak for both. Meanwhile, Enrico's fame burgeons in New York City, where he is the star of the Metropolitan Opera house and the toast of Manhattan. There, in 1917, he meets bookish, gentle Dorothy, who yearns to escape her wealthy, tyrannical father. The story chronicles her brief but loving marriage to Enrico, which is cut short after three years by the tenor's death. The writing is often lyrical and vivid, and di Michele proves especially skilled at capturing the vistas of Italy and the bustling environs of New York City. What is less convincing is the alleged charm of Enrico himself. Despite constant narrative reminders of his charisma and talent, Enrico is often loutish and self-serving, and his responses to his own misdeeds become wearingly self-pitying. Ada, Rina and Dorothy may have loved blindly, but readers will likely find it hard to follow suit. Agent, Jackie Kaiser. (Jan.)