Phantom Of Manhattan
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2.8 • 4 Ratings
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
It was 1882 when Antoinette Giry, Maitresse du Corps de Ballet at the Paris Opera House, took her small daughter to the funfair at Neuilly. And there, in a cage, she saw a filthy manacled creature whose tormented eyes shone from a grotesquely deformed face. It was Antoinette Giry who saved him, freed him, cured his wounds and finally let him find a dwelling place in the labyrinthine depths of the Opera House. The creature - Erik - whose hideous face hid a brilliant brain of near-genius, was to become the Phantom of the Opera - magician, artists, musician, and lover. When he tried to lure the object of his adoration to his underground domain - it was to end in tragedy.
It was Madame Giry who saved him once more, set him on a ship to the New World - and there Erik Muhlheim began a new and secret life, a life that began in misery and poverty but in which his incredible skills finally carved out an unexpected kingdom of power. And there it was he learned again of Christine, whose life had changed dramatically since that night in the Paris Opera House.
Inevitably, their paths must cross again in the old sequence of tragedy and triumph.
The Phantom, one of the most mysterious and romantic figures ever created, soars again in a world of his own making. Frederick Forsyth's magnificent and evocative story adds a new dimension to the legend of the Phantom.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gaston Lereaux's The Phantom of the Opera is a gothic classic of a disfigured soul who haunts the Paris Opera House, and it has weathered so many revisions on stage and film that few even recall his original work, published in 1911. Here, thriller specialist Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal, etc.) has crafted a clever followup to composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1984 stage version, which ends with the Phantom escaping the opera house before disappearing into the night. Set in 1906, 12 years after he fled Paris, the story picks up with the Phantom prospering in New York City, where he has grown enormously wealthy, first by conning Coney Island tourists, then by conquering Wall Street. Living under the name Eric Mulheim, the Phantom is bitter and angry because, despite his riches, his disfigurement prevents him from gaining acceptance and love. He still pines for Christine de Chagny, the lovely diva who rejected his romantic overtures years earlier in Paris. Hoping to lure her to New York, he spends millions building the world's greatest opera house and, scheming for her love, winds up instead learning a life-changing secret. Forsyth uses several narrators in this charming tale, all of whom speak in fresh, engaging voices and add many layers of intrigue and insight to Lereaux's original frame. In his introduction, Forsyth explains why he thinks Lereaux's Phantom has remained popular for so long while undergoing so many transformations. With this sequel, Forsyth brings the Phantom to life in a new way, in an invigorating parable about loneliness, greed and love.
