Our Strange Duet

LoveReading4Kids Says

In Our Strange Duet, Erin A. Craig has reimagined Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera as a lushly romantic, tormented love story that gives greater agency to young soprano, Christine Daaé. Playing out on the stage of the glamorous Parisian Opéra Populaire, it tells a story that feels at once rooted in a very specific context, and timeless in its evocation of dramatic matters of the heart.  

The drama begins in the dressing room of the Parisian Opéra Populaire, where we meet dancer Christine, and discover how she was taken under the wing of Madame Giry, an associate of her violinist father, after he’d suddenly died in Paris. Having inherited her father’s musical talents, Christine harbours a secret desire to become a singer: “I knew my tone was clear and sweet and Father often praised my vocal range, but we travelled too much for formal training.

I’d never found a true instructor and so my secret dream stayed nothing more than that: a secret”. When her singing angers the company’s prima donna assoluta, Christine is forced to use a dressing room that’s said to be haunted by the Phantom of the Opera, a legendary figure who’s already on her radar: “I couldn’t remember a time when I’d not been aware of him.

His presence was a constant, always on the periphery of everyone’s visions. He was the hero—or reviled scapegoat—for any bit of luck that befell a production, both good—or more often than not—very, very bad”.  

As Christine’s star rises as a singer, so her relationship with the mysterious Phantom intensifies, but then there’s warm-hearted Raoul, and a choice to be made. Well-placed to gratify fans of YA gothic romantasy and dramatic historic fiction, a soaring love story lifts the curtain on another aspect of Andrew Lloyd Webber's much-loved musical as the rising star finds herself torn between the Phantom’s dark mystery, and an earthier, more predictable future with Raoul.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen is a writer, reviewer and workshop presenter whose lifelong love of books began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Our Strange Duet

A reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, spotlighting Christine Daaé as she finds her voice while torn between love, ambition, and the haunting secrets of the Opéra Populaire from #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig.

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