The Orphan’s Song

Orphaned since birth, Violetta has spent her whole life in Venice’s Hospital of the Incurables, training to join the ranks of the church’s coro. Late one night, she sees a woman abandon her son at the gates of the hospital and is as moved by the love she sees as she is by the desperate mother’s song. Years later, hiding out on the roof, she meets Mino, a young man whose gift for the violin is equal to Violetta’s exquisite singing voice. Violetta is drawn to the gaiety of Venice’s carnevale, and her occasional clandestine explorations of Venetian nightlife soon lead to a regular singing engagement in one of the city’s most famous casinos, La Sirena, and a relationship with its owner, the mysterious and older Federico. Violetta’s thoughts still stray toward Mino and his lifelong quest to find his mother, and when she discovers a clue to her identity, it changes both of their lives.