In seventeenth-century Mantua, the Gonzaga Duke objects to the violent ending of Monteverdi’s opera, Orfeo. With the help of Jewish composer, Salamone Rossi, Monteverdi supplies a new happy Act V. The original ending is lost. In twenty-first-century Britain, amateur musician, Emilia, discovers a faded musical manuscript in an East Anglian stately home. Turning detective, she reveals the truth behind a Golden Age: there is musical passion, secret loves, patronage, power, and academic skullduggery.

Published by Greenwich Exchange

‘A well-researched and entertaining read.’
– Sir Roger Norrington

Short-listed for the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Prize (see Updates page for more details.)