Leroux was born in Paris in 1868. He went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent and in 1905 when he covered the Russian Revolution. He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled The Mystery of the Yellow Room, starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice, France, in 1927. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Fiction
Like other precursors of modern superheroes, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Frankenstein’s creature, Erik balances sympathy with horror, admiration with revulsion. Set in one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe, this story of the love triangle between the phantom, the young peasant-born opera singer he loves, and the dashing viscount who she loves, was written as a thriller, and it continued to excite the imaginations of readers into the twenty-first century.
About this story
Christine Daae was brought up in the Paris Opera house when her famous musician father suddenly dies, telling her he will send her an angel of music to look after her. She grows up and discovers that she is hearing a voice, telling her and teaching her to sing. She believes he is the angel of music but in fact he is a disfigured genius, The Phantom, who falls in love with her. Although she is fascinated and drawn towards the phantom, she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny. The phantom gets madly jealous, kidknapps Christine, and threatens to kill Raoul. To save Raoul, she agrees to marry the phantom and kisses him. He then realizes what he has done and then lets Christine go with Raoul, disappearing forever.

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