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  • Published: 5 October 2010
  • ISBN: 9780451531872
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $17.99

The Phantom of the Opera




New to Penguin Black Classics, the fully annotated edition of Mireille Ribière's acclaimed translation

Filled with the spectacle of the Paris Opera House in the nineteenth century, this classic work of suspense remains a riveting journey into the dark regions of the human heart.

The tale begins as an investigation into the strange stories of an “Opera ghost,” legendary for scaring performers as they sit alone in their dressing rooms or walk along the building’s labyrinthine corridors. Some even think they’ve seen the ghost in evening clothes moving in the shadows. But it isn’t until the triumphant performance of beautiful soprano Christine Daaé that the Phantom begins his attacks—striking terror in the hearts of everyone in the theater. A story that has captured the imagination for a century, The Phantom of the Opera continues to this day as an unparalleled work of sheer entertainment.
 
With an Introduction by Dr. John L. Flynn
and an Afterword by J.R. Ward

  • Published: 5 October 2010
  • ISBN: 9780451531872
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $17.99

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About the author

Gaston Leroux

Gaston Leroux was born on 6 May 1868 in Paris and after school in Normandy, he returned to Paris to study law. His extreme gambling is well-documented after he squandered the millions he had inherited, narrowly escaping bankruptcy. He worked as a court reporter and theatre critic before landing a job as an international correspondent for Le Matin. During this time Leroux travelled to Russia to experience and report on the Russian Revolution. In 1907 he gave up journalism to become a writer, and quickly found success with Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune (1908). He became well-known for his popular and acclaimed crime and thriller novels, but Leroux also wrote poetry and short fiction. His most famous work, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera), was inspired by a tour of the cellars at the Paris Opera, and published in 1911. The story has been adapted for film and, most notably, for Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical. Gaston Leroux died on 15 April 1927.

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Praise for The Phantom of the Opera

“Ingenious . . . breathless suspense.”—The Nation

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