In Margriet de Moor's prize-winning novel a strange and extraordinary love story unfolds amid the carriages, churches, and shadowed harbors of eighteenth-century Naples. For one entire opera season, Carlotta, a Neapolitan duchess, sits in her candle-lit box captive to her passion for Gasparo, the tantalizing castrato with whom she has been smitten since their childhood together in a small Italian village. De Moor recreates the world of Italian music and Naples' fashionable aristocracy with a sensuality that takes the breath away.

First published in Holland, and since translated into thirteen languages, this unusual tale of song and sensuality has seduced readers around the world, taking them from the grand stage of Italian opera to the most intimate moments lovers share. A novel of sweeping gestures with delicate grace notes, The Virtuoso is a story of an exceptional place and exceptional passion.