I have an older, tattered version of this amazing novel I got from my mother. It is an amazing story that tries to explain what made The Phantom of the Opera (Eric) who he was when we meet him in Gaston's book or in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. Though it has various narrators over the course of the book, each adds a new layer of context and emotion with each part of his life. I would recommend this book to any one that has an affinity for this broken and love starved man, living in the depths of the Paris Opera house.