Seventeen-year-old Angelica Voglia has the voice of an angel.But in seventeenth-century Rome, the pope has forbidden women to sing in public.To make matters worse, her controlling mother is determined to marry her off to a wealthy nobleman, even though Angelica is in love with a poor French artist.Angelica's only hope to sing before an audience-and escape a forced marriage-is to flee to Queen Christina's court, where she will become the queen's soprano.But she soon discovers that the palace walls are not completely secure ...and her freedom will require even greater sacrifice than she imagined.