Phantom is a 1990 novel by Susan Kay, based on the 1910 Gaston Leroux novel The Phantom of the Opera. It is a biography of the title character Erik. Plot summary The Phantom is born as Erik in Boscherville, a small town not far from Rouen, in the summer of 1831. His spoiled, vain mother scorns her deformed child from birth, puts a mask on his face, and cannot bring herself to name him. Instead, she instructs the elderly priest who baptises him to name the child after himself. Erik is forced to spend his childhood locked in his home lest he or his mother become a target for the superstitious villagers. Much of the verbal and physical abuse Erik suffers from his mother is chronicled in the opening chapters of the novel. From a young age, Erik exhibits a strong interest in architecture and is privately tutored by a well-respected professor, but his strongest abilities lie in the subject of music. His mother does not encourage his pursuit of singing, claiming that his supernaturally beautiful voice cannot have been created by God. At nine years old, Erik runs away from home, believing this will make his mother's life easier. After a week or so without food, he stumbles upon a Romani camp in the woods. Upon seeing his face, a freak show showman named Javert decides to exhibit him as the "Living Corpse" and Erik is locked in a cage. He remains with the tribe until he is about 12 years old, when the showman drunkenly attempts to force himself on him, at which point Erik kills him and is forced to flee. While performing at a fair in Rome, Erik meets Giovanni, a master mason who takes the boy on as his apprentice. He stays with Giovanni until age 15, when Erik is forced to flee again after inadvertently causing the death of Giovanni's daughter Luciana. Four years later, he is sought out by Nadir, the Daroga of Mazanderan Court and becomes a court assassin, magician, and personal engineer to the Persian Shah. Responsible for the entertainment of the Khanum, the Shah's mother, he builds sophisticated traps and torture devices for her amusement. In addition, he is involved in the design and construction of a palace for the Shah. After becoming involved in political intrigue, Erik makes his way back to France, where he helps design and build