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