~ INTRODUCTION ~ I bought this paperback from a second-hand book shop in Marseille after reading its teaser at the back and becoming intrigued. I love a good and complex story set in the past, whether it is 20th century war-time, Middles Ages or the Renaissance. Having had a busy summer it did take me about a few weeks to finish the 400 pages, now in retrospect, was it worth it? ~ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~ Most known as the author of Interview with the Vampire and its sequels, American novelist Ann Rice (born in 1941) - somewhat deviating from her usual gothic genre - penned Cry to Heaven in 1982 between her first and second novel of the Vampire ...  Read the complete review

Anne Rice is, of course, best known for her Vampire Chronicles, but with Cry to Heaven she has written an historical novel which draws the reader into eighteenth century Byzantium, or more specifically, Venice and Instanbul (or Constantinople as it was then known) and into the lost world of the castrati. Castrati were singers who, to retain the purity of their voices, were castrated before their voices broke. These young men were prized above all others for the quality of their singing voices, earning huge sums of money and being feted by the society of the day. ------------------------------------------- Synopsis: In eighteenth-century ...  Read the complete review