D. B. Minter links opera and desire in new novel The Little Red Book

British novelist D. B. Minter draws on 25 years as a London matchmaker and decades of opera fandom in The Little Red Book, the second book in his trilogy. The novel follows a Hertfordshire gramophone club as Mozart’s stories blur into the characters’ own relationships and choices.

Why it matters: - D. B. Minter is using opera as a lens to examine love, jealousy, deception and personal change in ordinary life. - The Little Red Book continues a trilogy built around classical operas, giving Minter a clear thematic throughline across three novels. - The book connects music with the characters’ real-world choices, which gives the story a psychological and emotional stakes beyond the opera references.

What happened: - Minter is promoting The Little Red Book, the second novel in his trilogy, set around a gramophone club in Hertfordshire, England. - The novel draws on the three operas Mozart wrote with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. - Alex, a member of the club, starts writing updated versions of those opera stories. - As Alex’s writing develops, the fictional events begin to spill into the relationships around him.

The details: - Minter says the characters “go on a journey that changes their lives for good or ill.” - Minter says he wants readers to see that human behavior is not fixed and that people can change. - Minter spent 25 years working as a professional matchmaker in London. - That work gave Minter firsthand exposure to people’s hopes and vulnerabilities in relationships. - Minter’s interest in classical music and opera goes back six decades. - His first novel, The Incidental Legacy of Carlo Negrini, was published in 2024. - That debut drew on Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and mixed mystery, romance and fantasy. - The Little Red Book extends the same idea through Mozart and da Ponte’s dramatic comedies. - Minter’s planned final book, Redemption, will focus on Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Arabella. - Redemption will be set partly in the Nazi era and will explore forgiveness, responsibility and redemption. - Minter says, “Redemption does what it says on the tin, it’s all about forgiveness and redemption.”

Between the lines: - Minter’s background as a matchmaker likely gives the fiction a practical view of attraction, conflict and commitment. - The trilogy appears designed to pair operatic plots with modern emotional dilemmas, rather than treat opera as decoration. - The structure suggests Minter is building a niche literary brand around music-driven stories about human behavior.

What's next: - Readers can find more about Minter and his books, including paperback and Kindle links, at more information. - Redemption is set to complete the trilogy. - Minter and his wife, Deirdre, continue to live in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where they enjoy concerts, opera, walks, reading and cooking. - Minter was born in Hertfordshire and lived and worked in Dublin during the 1970s and 1980s.