In the grand manner of Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice's new novel
moves across time and the continents, from nineteenth-century Vienna to
a St. Charles Greek Revival mansion in present-day New Orleans to
dazzling capitals of the modern-day world, telling a story of two
charismatic figures bound to each other by a passionate commitment to
music as a means of rapture, seduction, and liberation.
While grieving the death of her husband, Triana falls prey to the
demonic fiddler Stefan, a tormented ghost of a Russian aristocrat who
uses his magic violin first to enchant, then to dominate and draw her
into a state of madness.
But Triana understands the power of the music perhaps even more than
Stefan--and she sets out to resist him and to fight, not only for her
sanity, but for her life. The struggle draws them both into a terrifying
supernatural realm where they find themselves surrounded by memories, by
horrors, and by overwhelming truths. Battling desperately, they are at
last propelled toward the novel's astonishing and unforgettable climax.