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Man is a fragile mechanism...he can easily be set off course. It is the late 18th century, and a young Sicilian nobleman, Vitellio Scarpia, detects himself penniless and in disgrace on the roads of Rome. After departing his home to go after a military career, his impulsive and undisciplined mother nature has led to his expulsion from Spanish royal guard, and he must now seek his fortune in Italy - a fortune inseparably destined up with the ruler of the Eternal City, the Pope. Scarpia enrolls in the papal military and becomes the enthusiast of an alluring countess who introduces him into Roman world, with its blend of religiosity, sophistication, and intrigue. 50 percent enthralled, half appalled, Scarpia loves the life of the decadent city, learning in due course that as an unsophisticated provincial he is no match for the worldliness of Rome. Patronized by a robust cardinal, Scarpia is sent on a mission to Venice, where he encounters the stunning, exquisitely gifted singer Floria Tosca. As the armies of revolutionary France invade Italy, and battle and trend engulf the whole peninsula, the lives of both become fatefully entwined. Piers Paul Read brilliantly reimagines the infamous villain of Puccini's opera, Tosca, sharing with a story that shines a light in to the dusty corridors of history and the dark edges of the real human soul.
