Intermezzo is Book 2 in the Alouette Trilogy and the sequel to Overture, Book 1, which ends just as World War I begins in 1914.
Intermezzo is currently in preparation and is scheduled for publication in 2022. Book 3, Finale, will follow in 2023.
In Intermezzo, Marie-Thérèse (or Ida, her stage name) is now a successful singer, becoming known on the international stage. But World War I has intervened to curtail her career in parts of Europe.
In 1915, Ida travels to New York, where she gives a series of recitals. She meets the idol of her formative years, Emma Calvé, a wildly successful opera singer and cantatrice, now in her fifties. But Emma’s much younger husband, Gaspari, proves a problem.
A chance meeting promises the chance of love, but the war threatens to snatch this opportunity away brutally. In the meantime, things are not going well at home in France.
How will Ida cope with the hardships that life throws at her? And will she have to make a choice between love and her career?
Vanessa Couchman 