Jeanette Winterson has brought together many amazing writers to celebrate the 75th year of the Glyndebourne Opera. This is a fantastic way to read works of authors you admire but also discover new writers. Being an opera fan is not a prerequisite, but aficionados will find so much to enjoy.

Elisa, Book Grocer

'Lynne Truss's chilling little version of The Turn of the Screw is funny and pointed ... Kate Atkinson, who has the quasi-musical ability to write narrative voices in counterpoint, gives us a witty and touching duet between celebrity culture and La Traviata ... Atkinson brilliantly combines sentimental appeal and a deadpan tone ... Toby Litt's The Ghost raises the hairs on the back of your neck ... a varied and enjoyable collection' Times Literary Supplement. 'The strongest and wittiest anthology of short fiction to appear for years: a superior selection box of irresistible delights' The Tablet.

Jeanette Winterson's first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel. Since then she has written eight other novels, including The Passion and been published in 32 countries, as well as adapting her work for TV, film and stage. She lives in Gloucestershire and London.

Introduction - Jeanette Winterson. First Lady of Song - Jackie Kay. Fidelio and Bess - Ali Smith. Freedom - Sebastian Barry. To Die For - Kate Atkinson. The Growler - Julie Myerson. The Ghost - Toby Litt. Nemo - Joanna Trollope. The Pearl Fishers - Colm Toibin. Key Note - Anne Enright. First Snow - Andrew O'Hagan. Midsummer Night at Glyndebourne - Posy Simmonds. Goldrush Girl - Jeanette Winterson. The Martyr - Ruth Rendell. String and Air - Lynne Truss. The Empty Seat - Paul Bailey. My Lovely Countess - Antonia Fraser. La Fille de Melisande - Kate Mosse. Now the Great Bear - Andrew Motion. Forget My Fate - Marina Warner. The Albanians - Alexander McCall Smith. Notes on the Operas - Margaret Reynolds. About Glyndebourne. Notes on the Contributors.