'There's no beating Mary Gentle' - SFX Things are about to get interesting for Conrad Scalese. Interesting as in dangerous. He's a librettist, an atheist and a thinker, and it's just possible that his latest opera has created a miracle. But secular music isn't supposed to have such power, and the Church doesn't appreciate miracles being performed by the godless. So when he's captured, handcuffed and interrogated by the Church it comes as no surprise. It comes as rather a bigger surprise when he's whisked from his captors' arms and delivered to an audience with the King of the Two Sicilies, the most powerful man on the island . who is in need of an Opera writer, and especially of one who can instigate miracles. A terrible conspiracy has been uncovered which threatens the entire world.

The King needs a miracle to stop it - and he has a plan: to put on a full-scale Opera. In six weeks. When it hasn't been written, cast or announced yet. If they are to succeed, Conrad and his company must deal with a rival opera, traitors, volcanoes, a world-wide conspiracy, massive egos, long-lost lovers, the Returned Dead, recalcitrant set-designers and a certain deposed Emperor living on Elba. Conrad would be a fool to take on an impossible job. But this is Napoli, the heart of the opera world, and the show isn't over while there's a singer alive . 'She is a writer who knows politics and human nature' - Julian May 'the writing is as intricate as filigree but as tough as wrought iron' - The Times.