Based on original research, documents and letters which have remained hidden for almost a century, this biography tells the story of the Maria Callas of her day - Guiseppina Strepponi. She was a singer, actress and the mistress of the most powerful impressario of the time in a period when composers turned out opera as people make films today. She gave it all up, and abandoned her three illegitimate children to become Verdi's mistress and then his wife. The book provides a look at the lives of Giuseppina and Verdi, the Italian unification and the Risorgimento. Gaia Servadio has also written Melinda, The Mafia and Luchino Visconti.