Friendship and love are all very well, but what is an orphan to do when offered the chance to live pampered in a palazzo in the heart of Florence?

A romantic historical fantasy in which three high-spirited friends, art lover Placido, gravedigger Renato, and fiery-haired Florentia, coming of age at the height of the Renaissance, struggle together, and sometimes at odds, to stay true to their best selves in a world of breathtaking beauty, ruthless violence, and heart-wrenching betrayal.

In 1478, during Easter Mass in the cathedral of Florence, assassins cut down Giuliano de' Medici, while, in the servants' quarters of Palazzo Pazzi a kitchen maid gives birth to the natural child of the chief conspirator. Lorenzo de' Medici vows that "Jacopo Pazzi's little bastard" must die to avenge his father's crime.

The infant, secreted out of Florence, grows to young manhood on a remote Tuscan island, unaware of his birth in a palazzo or that the Pazzi clan, coming to claim their long-lost heir, must outrace Medici vengeance bent on seeing the boy does not survive his eighteenth year.

One of two childhood friends, Renato or Placido, will soon either be welcomed as the heir to a great fortune or face the Medici-hired killer knight believed to have filled more coffins than the plague. But which is the Pazzi boy? The stolen baptismal record found behind a painting of the Madonna and Child leads to a new mystery-the unspeakable secret buried in an unmarked grave.

Meanwhile, Renato and beautiful but distant Florentia of the two gemlike eyes, one blue, one green, struggle to liberate themselves from the Machiavellian priest who schemes without mercy to keep them forever apart. Possible escape comes with the discovery beneath the charnel house of an ancient temple to the goddess Venus who promises her aid-if the young lovers pass the most heartbreaking test of all.

"Phantasmagoric, and startlingly original, opens up a luminous Renaissance past, in a feverish tale of Medici Italy. Highly recommended for several reads - then to be shared with a friend."
>"Fellini-esque...a chiseled, dense, dreamy and poetic work that drops you into an entertaining, historical world only dimly resembling our own."
>From Readers:

"Reads like a movie, with love, action, suspense, and humor. Ten pages in you'll begin to taste the popcorn."

"A magical story fascinating to read, positively incantatory. This beautiful novella shimmers like a mirage. Masterful."

"A riveting story of young love amidst corruption, disloyalty, and greed. In Florentia, the author has created a strong woman. A great read."

"Fascinating historical fantasy with complex characters. Lively and imaginative storytelling. Highly intelligent literary content bursting with color, surprising plot twists, and a love story ending - it's a fable after all."

Brief Excerpt:

All at once the black canopy of night filled with stars lighting the way for Florentia moving down the slope and into the sea-an undulating mirror of the overhanging stars now floating on the water. The Moon descended to Florentia as if their meeting had been planned. As she waded forward, the bobbing stars rose around her, until she presented herself beneath the Moon wearing a mantle of watery, shape-changing stars. A mysterious communication passed between them. Then Florentia waded toward shore, the starry mantle slipping from her shoulders.

The Moon ascended. A sudden wind blew out the stars. Florentia hurried up the slope where Renato saw she was trembling and heard her tears as she passed, to darken to a silhouette, that became a distant shadow, lost in the blackness all around.