Crucifixus

In the 17th century, women were silenced and forced to be subservient. Men declared their superiority and shaded their insecurities. Crucifixus shows how both suffered from the devastating impact of societal conventions founded upon fear.

At this time, women were not permitted to sing in sanctified places, yet heavenly voices were required to bring people closer to God. The Church found a way through this dilemma, calling boys to make a harrowing sacrifice for song.

Crucifixus chronicles the journey of Paulo, a seven-year-old boy chosen by Church officials to become a castrato. Torn from his family and forced into a world of brutal discipline, Paulo finds solace in music and achieves fame in a private opera. However, the pain that comes with success is profound, placing him in an ongoing battle with his body, mind and spirit. When Paulo loses his first love, he lets go, spiralling into hatred and despair.

Paulo's story intertwines with that of his family-his brother Antonio, who is angered by the frailty of women and considers his brother an abomination; his brother Luca, who encounters both the corrosive power of patrons and a wonderous scientific world; his sister Francesca, who envies Paulo's life immersed in music; and their mother, Rosa, whose deep devotion to the Church creates intense internal conflict. Their choices, and those of the Church fathers, reverberate through generations, leaving a lasting impact.

Through richly evocative prose, Crucifixus explores how the men and women within this society attempted to navigate the absolute authority of the Church and the severe consequences of disdain, disrespect and repression. This is but one of countless untold stories of the nearly half a million boys taken and tortured for the Church's music program between the 16th and 19th centuries-and of the mothers and sisters who wept as they watched them leave.