Deceit. Treachery. A life-altering secret comes to life.

And a mind struggles against bonds promised by the heart long ago.... Nineteen-year-old Christian de Chagny knows where he gets some of his physical characteristics--from his mother, Christine Daae de Chagny. But where does his musical genius come from, when his father, Count Raoul de Chagny, can barely hum a tune?

From the moment Christian questions his mother and she nearly faints to the novel's heartrending conclusion, Progeny is a breathless winding trek through the lives of Christian, Christine, Raoul, and the masked Master of Music--the man at the center of all of their lives--Erik, the Phantom of the Opera.