Wishdaughter

the long version

"Set in present-day Venice, Tel Aviv, Munich and the Wye Valley, Wishdaughter opens with the chance discovery of a letter which sets journalist Bill Wheeler off on an investigation into the world of opera's dark genius, Richard Wagner. As he delves deeper into the meanings hidden in the letter, Bill is forced to confront his relationships with his daughter, his ex-wife, and Libby Ziegler, the American academic who hastened the disintegration of his marriage seven years before. Driven to acts of violence and destruction of which he would never have thought himself capable, Bill finally comes to understand the Wagner letter - and himself." "Ultimately, Wishdaughter is a novel about coming to terms with the past, and the importance of forgiveness; it is also a disturbing examination of the potency of the written word."--BOOK JACKET.