Amazon.com (ISBN 0312275528, Hardcover)

Opera enthusiast and self-described worshipper of all things Victorian, first-time novelist Paula Cohen merges her two obsessions in Gramercy Park, a ripping good yarn set in Manhattan in 1894 that contains as many corsets as it does arias. When an elderly businessman and philanthropist dies, he leaves behind a Gramercy Park mansion and a beautiful but sickly ward named Clara. Enter the swarthy Italian tenor Mario Alfieri, who has recently arrived for his debut on the American opera scene, and whose velvet voice belies his womanizing swagger. Mario falls in love with Clara, whom he marries hastily as protection against Thaddeus Chadwick, the nefarious lawyer who covets his dead client's millions and his appealing ward--but not necessarily in that order. With plenty of standing ovations and fainting spells, vengeful threats and sexual deviancies, this is the sort of fiction that weaves a passionate tapestry of a tale and, in doing so, a reverent approximation of an era. Cohen concocts the repressed and proper past with plenty of titillation for a modern audience. In doing so, it's hard for the reader to decide which time period the book really belongs to, only you have to keep reading to see if the tenor sings a final, happy song. --Emily Russin