Book:Maskerade

Maskerade
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	November 1995
ISBN	0575058080
Pages	285
RRP
Main characters	Perdita, The Opera Ghost, Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax
Series	Witches Series
Annotations	View
Notes
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

The Opera House, Ankh-Morpork ... a huge, rambling building, where masked figures and hooded shadows do wicked deeds in the wings ... where dying the death on stage is a little bit more than just a metaphor ... where innocent young sopranos are lured to their destiny by an evil mastermind in a hideously deformed evening dress ...

Where ... there's a couple of old ladies in pointy hats eating peanuts in the stalls and looking at the big chandelier and saying things like: 'There's an accident waiting to happen if ever I saw one'.

Yes ... Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, the Discworld's greatest witches, are back for an innocent night at the opera.

So there's going to be trouble (but nevertheless a good evening's entertainment with murders you can really hum)

Characters

• Perdita
• Christine, a parody of Christine Daae
• Walter Plinge
• Mrs. Plinge
• Salzella
• Seldom Bucket
• Dr. Undershaft
• The Opera Ghost
• Enrico Basilica
• Nanny Ogg
• Granny Weatherwax
• André

Locations

• Lancre
• Ankh-Morpork
  • The Opera House

Cover Artwork

• In the touring exhibition The Art of Josh Kirby, which at the time of writing was in the Walker Gallery in his home town of Liverpool, the full cover art of Maskerade is annotated with a direction to look out for the private jokes the artist built into his work. At least one member of the Opera House audience has realised he is being watched, and is looking not at the action on stage, but directly up at the artist who is drawing the scene... this is visible only on the cover of the hardback book: on the paperback, the relevant section is obscured by a highly inconvenient publisher's blurb.

Btw, the original artworks for the covers are a lot bigger than the books and apparently are reduced down several times for publication. You would be surprised.

External links

Maskerade Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File

Annotations

• This book parodies The Phantom of the Opera

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