Phantom Rising (Phantom Rising, #3)

He is one of the most unforgettable characters in history - both loved and feared for the chaos he created in the Paris Opera House. Now, the story of his childhood is revealed.

He was not always known as the Phantom of the Opera. For the first years of his life he had no name at all.

Forced to flee his home and his mother's murderous rage when he removes his mask, he suffers starvation and torture at the hands of strangers before falling in with a troupe of gypsies. Traveling with the gypsies and performing as The Living Corpse, he finds no friendship or safety... and his anger grows.

After years of being persecuted for his hideous face across Europe and Asia, he escapes Mazenderan under a death sentence, and returns to his home country of France. Angry, disillusioned and without hope, he makes his home in the cellars of the Paris Opera House, determined to hide from the world forever... until a young girl named Christine captures his attention.