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Title: Scarpia

Author: Piers Paul Read

Narrator: Leighton Pugh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-05-15

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Man is a delicate mechanism...he can easily be set off course.

It is the late 18th century, and a young Sicilian nobleman, Vitellio Scarpia, finds himself penniless and in disgrace on the streets of Rome. After leaving his home to pursue a military career, his impulsive and undisciplined nature has led to his expulsion from Spanish royal guard, and he must now seek his fortune in Italy - a fortune inseparably bound up with the ruler of the Eternal City, the Pope.

Scarpia enrolls in the papal army and becomes the lover of an alluring countess who introduces him into Roman society, with its blend of religiosity, sophistication, and intrigue. Half enthralled, half appalled, Scarpia enjoys the life of the decadent city, learning in due course that as an unsophisticated provincial he is no match for the worldliness of Rome.

Patronized by a powerful cardinal, Scarpia is sent on a mission to Venice, where he encounters the beautiful, exquisitely gifted singer Floria Tosca. As the armies of revolutionary France invade Italy, and war and revolution engulf the whole peninsula, the lives of the two become fatefully entwined.

Piers Paul Read brilliantly reimagines the infamous villain of Puccini's opera, Tosca, telling a story that shines a light into the dusty corridors of history and the dark corners of the human soul.

Members Reviews:

The Scarpia you never knew

"Scarpia" is a complex endeavorâa novel that fleshes out the life of the notorious villain of Puccini's opera "Tosca." Piers Paul Read imagines the future Baron Scarpia as a young nobleman from Sicily trying to navigate a world unhinged by conflicts between old traditions and republican ideals fueled by the French Revolution. The author has done the scholarly work necessary to give credibility and texture to his narrative. As a result, the book can sometimes seem more like history than fiction, but its Italian perspective on Napoleonic ambitions makes it all feel fresh. Like Scarpia, the singer Floria Tosca and other characters familiar from the opera receive plenty of lively backstory. Obviously, the author faces the problem of readers who know exactly where his book is heading, but that's part of the pleasure of the tale. So if the final pages take an operatic turn in style and action (with a twist or two), it seems appropriate. Yet I think "Scarpia" might still be an engaging read for someone who has never heard of Puccini.

Creative and interesting take on one of opera's most villainous ...

Creative and interesting take on one of opera's most villainous characters. The author presents a detailed and interesting political and social backdrop the the events leading up to Puccini's opera. Scarpia, as portrayed int the book, is a multifaceted humane character with sympathetic traits whose life is more directed by the unstoppable social/political ramifications of the era than by personal greed or lust.

A must read for all operaphiles.

Bravo Signore Read! Bravo Signorina Tosca!

Spellbinding and sensual historical drama. Meticulously researched and beautifully written with great panache - a fascinating study of human character in the bloody wake of the French Revolution.

Lame

Utter drivel. Plot is transparent from start to finish.

Interesting story line, especially for historical fiction fans. ...

Interesting story line, especially for historical fiction fans. Takes a while to get into the characters.