The Phantom of the Opera
Narrated by Andrew Bond
The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux's gothic mystery of masks and music set beneath the Paris Opera House, makes a slow, calm listen for bedtime.
Beneath the grand opera house lives a shadowy figure the staff call the Phantom, a man no one has ever seen in full light. When a young soprano named Christine Daae begins to hear a voice coaching her from behind the walls of her dressing room, she believes it is the Angel of Music her father once promised would come to her. The voice belongs to Erik, a brilliant, disfigured composer who has made his home in the tunnels and underground lake beneath the opera house, and who has fallen fiercely in love with her.
As Christine's singing draws the attention of the whole city, so does the Phantom's jealousy. Her childhood friend Raoul de Chagny returns to court her, and Erik will not give her up without a fight. A chandelier falls, the theater managers receive threatening notes signed with the Phantom's initials, and his demands slowly turn the opera house into his own private kingdom. Christine is caught between pity for the man behind the mask and love for the one who wants to save her from him.
Leroux's novel helped set the mold for gothic romance and locked-theater mystery, mixing real dread with tragic longing. It suits listeners who love Victorian ghost stories, doomed love triangles, or the backstage world of old Paris theater, and anyone curious about the story behind the famous musical it inspired.
Andrew Bond reads hushed and unhurried, giving the opera house's dark corridors and hidden lake room to breathe. The pace is gentle, never frightening — a quiet companion for slipping off to sleep.
