A child is born... His??mother's only gift is a mask. Precocious and??gifted, he will live friendless and alone. taunted and??abused, he will flee, only to find himself caged??again-as a freak in a Gypsy carnival. A brilliant??outcast... the world is his home. Filled with??bitter rage, he will kill to escape, becoming a??stonemason's apprentice in Rome... a dark magician at??the treacherous Persian court... and finally, the??genius behind the construction of the Paris Opera??House and the labyrinthine world below. Lacking??one thing only: A woman's love. Cloaked in secrets,??his power complete, he will see the exquisite??Christine and for the first time know what it means to??love. Obsessed, he will bring her into his eerie??subterranean world, driven to posses her heart and??soul. Phantom--A haunting??story of power and darkness, of magic and murder, of??sensuality and betrayal, and ultimately, the??unforgettable story of a man and a woman and the eternal??quality of love.