Cairo, 1936. Effie, a 10-year-old orphan from London, turns up in a packing case at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. All her life she has dreamed that her mother is an Egyptian princess, but she is faced with cruelty and crushing disappointment before she finds what she is looking for. Beattie Trevethan is the daughter […]
Castrati: did the end justify the means?
Marilyn Pemberton tells Historia about the history behind her latest novel: the lives of castrati, the choristers and opera stars with the voices of boys and the lungs of men. As all writers know, inspiration for a novel can come in many guises. The seed for what became my second historical novel, Song of the […]
Song of the Nightingale: A Tale of Two Castrati by Marilyn Pemberton
Philippe, the narrator of this tale, is secretary to Count De Lorenzo, and lover to the Count’s young wife. He is tasked with buying young boys from poor villagers, having them castrated and taking them to Florence to be taught to sing as castrati. The parents are told that their sons are especially blessed with […]