Gaston Leroux 
Phantom of the Opera 

Inspired by true events from the Paris Opera, ’The Phantom of the Opera’ is the most famous novel from French author Gaston Leroux. A strange phantom haunts the opera, causing fatal accidents on stage and committing some gruesome murders when his demands aren’t met. The phantom soon becomes enamoured with the young singer Christine, becoming her ’Angel of Music’ and guiding her musical career. However, when Christine’s childhood friend Raoul comes in to her life, the phantom’s jealously will have fatal consequences. It is an immortal tale of love, lust and tragedy. We can all sympathise with the love that never was or could be, in this tale of destructive desire reminiscent of ’Wuthering Heights’. The novel was famously adapted in 1925, starring Lon Chaney as the Phantom and later arranged into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber.-