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The Botticelli Secret

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2012-07-19
ISBN 10	: 9781848547995
Pages	: 576 pages
Rating	: 4.4/5 (479 users)

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Download or read book The Botticelli Secret written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third unforgettable historical love story set in Italy from Marina Fiorato, author of the bestseller THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir. Florence looks like gold and smells like sulphur . . .In the colourful world of fifteenth-century Italy, Luciana Vetra is young and beautiful, a part-time model and full-time whore. When she is asked to pose as the goddess Flora for Sandro Botticelli's painting La Primavera, she is willing to oblige - until the artist abruptly sends her away without payment. Affronted, she steals an unfinished version of the painting - only to find that someone is ready to kill her to get it back. As friends and associates are murdered around her, Luciana turns to the one man who has never tried to exploit her beauty, Brother Guido della Torre, a novice at the monastery of Santa Croce. Fleeing Florence together, Luciana and Guido race through the nine great cities of Renaissance Italy, desperately trying to decode the painting's secrets before their enemies stop them.

Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Discovery of the Renaissance

Author	: Joseph Luzzi
Publisher	: W. W. Norton & Company
Release Date	: 2022-10-25
ISBN 10	: 9781324004028
Pages	: 256 pages
Rating	: 4.2/5 (4 users)

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Download or read book Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Discovery of the Renaissance written by Joseph Luzzi and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true historical “detective story” full of insight about how we look at art—and the artists and eras that produced it. Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished. Botticelli declined into poverty and obscurity, and his illustrations went missing for 400 years. The nineteenth-century rediscovery of Botticelli’s Dante drawings brought scholars to their knees: this work embodied everything the Renaissance had come to mean. Today, Botticelli’s Primavera adorns household objects of every kind. This book is essential to explain not only how and why this artist became iconic, but why we need still need his work—and the spirit of the Renaissance—today.

The Daughter of Siena

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date	: 2011-05-10
ISBN 10	: 1429968729
Pages	: 416 pages
Rating	: 4.6/5 (29 users)

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Download or read book The Daughter of Siena written by Marina Fiorato and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amid the intrigue and danger of 18th-century Italy, a young woman becomes embroiled in romance and treachery with a rider in the Palio, the breathtaking horse race set in Siena.... It's 1729, and the Palio, a white-knuckle horse race, is soon to be held in the heart of the peerless Tuscan city of Siena. But the beauty and pageantry masks the deadly rivalry that exists among the city's districts. Each ward, represented by an animal symbol, puts forth a rider to claim the winner's banner, but the contest turns citizens into tribes and men into beasts—and beautiful, headstrong, young Pia Tolomei is in love with a rider of an opposing ward, an outsider who threatens the shaky balance of intrigue and influence that rules the land.

Beatrice and Benedick

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: St. Martin's Press
Release Date	: 2015-12-08
ISBN 10	: 9781466888982
Pages	: 448 pages
Rating	: 4.6/5 (889 users)

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Download or read book Beatrice and Benedick written by Marina Fiorato and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hidden in the language of Shakespeare's best-loved comedy Much Ado About Nothing are several clues to an intriguing tale. It seems that the witty lovers Beatrice and Benedick had a previous love affair that ended bitterly. But how did they meet? Why did they part? And what brought them together again? When nineteen-year-old Beatrice is brought to live at her uncle's court in Sicily to be a companion to his daughter, she first meets Benedick, a young soldier who is there with a Spanish lord on a month-long sojourn. As they begin to wage their war of wit, their words mask their deep love for one another. But the pair are cruelly parted by misunderstanding and slander. Heartbroken, Benedick sails to England on the ill-fated Spanish Armada. Beatrice returns to her home in the North and an unwanted betrothal. While Benedick must fight for his life on board ship, Beatrice fights for her freedom from an arranged marriage. From the point of view of Beatrice and Benedick we hear the lovers tell their own story, taking us from the sunlit southern courts of Sicily, to the crippled Armada on the frozen northern seas, to the gorgeous Renaissance cities of the north. From Marina Fiorato, author of the acclaimed historical novel The Glassblower of Murano, comes a beautifully imagined Beatrice and Benedick.

The Double Life of Mistress Kit Kavanagh

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2015-07-16
ISBN 10	: 9781473610477
Pages	: 448 pages
Rating	: 4.7/5 (14 users)

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Download or read book The Double Life of Mistress Kit Kavanagh written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in hardback as Kit. An unforgettable historical romance based on an astonishing true story from international bestseller Marina Fiorato - perfect for fans of Poldark and The Scandalous Lady W. Dublin 1702. Irish beauty Kit Kavanagh has everything she could want in life. Newly married, she runs a successful alehouse with her beloved husband Richard. The wars that rage in Europe over the Spanish throne seem a world away. But everything changes on the night that Richard simply disappears. Finding the Queen's shilling at the bottom of Richard's tankard, Kit realizes that her husband has been taken for a soldier. Kit follows Richard's trail across the battlefields of Italy in the Duke of Marlborough's regiment. Living as a man, risking her life in battle, she forms a close bond with her wry and handsome commanding officer Captain Ross. When she is forced to flee the regiment following a duel, she evades capture by dressing once more as a woman. But the war is not over for Kit. Her beauty catches the eye of the scheming Duke of Ormonde, who recruits her to spy upon the French. In her finery she meets Captain Ross once again, who seems just as drawn to the woman as he was to the soldier. Torn between Captain Ross and her loyalty to her husband, and under the orders of the English Crown, Kit finds that her life is in more danger now than on the battlefield.

Crimson and Bone: a dark and gripping tale of love and obsession

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2017-05-18
ISBN 10	: 9781473610521
Pages	: 320 pages
Rating	: 4.7/5 (15 users)

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Download or read book Crimson and Bone: a dark and gripping tale of love and obsession written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A rich jewel of a story, full of desire and danger' - Julie Cohen. A dark tale of love and obsession, perfect for fans of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock and The Wicked Cometh. London, 1853. Annie Stride has nothing left to live for - she is a penniless prostitute, newly evicted from her home and pregnant. On the night she plans to cast herself from Waterloo Bridge into the icy waters of the Thames, her life is saved by Francis Maybrick Gill, a talented pre-Raphaelite painter - and her world is changed forever. Francis takes Annie as his artist's muse, elevating her from fallen woman to society's darling. With her otherworldly beauty now the toast of London, her dark past is left far behind. But Annie's lavish new life is not all it seems - and there are some who won't let her forget where she came from... 'A thrilling tale of love, lust and revenge' The Lady 'A captivating gothic blend of mystery and romance' Sunday Mirror 'Exquisite...this is historical fiction at its best' - Book Literarti Reviews 'Gothic, dark [and] rich with atmosphere' - Louise Loves books 'A glorious story of art and passion' - Tea Party Princess 'Dazzling' Goodreads Reviewer 'Captivating' Goodreads Reviewer

The Venetian Contract

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2012-06-21
ISBN 10	: 9781848545663
Pages	: 416 pages
Rating	: 4.4/5 (456 users)

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Download or read book The Venetian Contract written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like her bestselling THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO, Marina Fiorato's fifth unforgettable historical love story is set in Venice. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir. 1576. Five years after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto, a ship steals unnoticed into Venice bearing a deadly cargo. A man more dead than alive, disembarks and staggers into Piazza San Marco. He brings a gift to Venice from Constantinople. Within days the city is infected with bubonic plague - and the Turkish Sultan has his revenge. But the ship also holds a secret stowaway - Feyra, a young and beautiful harem doctor fleeing a future as the Sultan's concubine. Only her wits and medical knowledge keep her alive as the plague ravages Venice. In despair the Doge commissions the architect Andrea Palladio to build the greatest church of his career - an offering to God so magnificent that Venice will be saved. But Palladio's own life is in danger too, and it will require all skills of medico Annibale Cason, the city's finest plague doctor, to keep him alive. But what Annibale had not counted on was meeting Feyra, who is now under Palladio's protection, a woman who can not only match his medical skills but can also teach him how to care.

The Glassblower of Murano

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2012-07-19
ISBN 10	: 9781848547957
Pages	: 368 pages
Rating	: 4.4/5 (479 users)

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Download or read book The Glassblower of Murano written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling first historical love story set in Venice, from Marina Fiorato. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir. 1681. Glassblowing is the lifeblood of the Republic and Venetian mirrors are more precious than gold. Jealously guarded by the murderous Council of Ten, the glassblowers of Murano are virtually imprisoned on their island in the lagoon. But the greatest artist of their number, Corradino Manin, sells his methods and his soul to the Sun King, Louise XIV of France, to protect his secret daughter . . . Centuries later his descendant, Nora Manin, escapes an unhappy life in London, determined to apprentice as a glassblower in the city of her ancestors. Passionate and gifted, her famous family name places her in danger within the ancient foundries when timeles rivalries rise to the surface. As she finds new life and love in Venice, Nora's fate becomes inextricably linked with that of Corradino as the treacherous secrets of his life come to light.

The Madonna of the Almonds

Author	: Marina Fiorato
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2012-07-19
ISBN 10	: 9781848547971
Pages	: 400 pages
Rating	: 4.4/5 (479 users)

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Download or read book The Madonna of the Almonds written by Marina Fiorato and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second unforgettable historical love story set in Italy from Marina Fiorato, author of the bestseller THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO. For fans of Philippa Gregory, Sarah Dunant and Alison Weir. Bernardino Luini, favoured apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci, is commissioned to paint a religious fresco in the hills of Lombardy. His eye is caught by the beautiful Simonetta di Saronno, a young noblewoman who has lost her husband to battle, and whose fortune is gone. Captivated by her beauty and sadness, Bernardino paints Simonetta's likeness, immortalizing her as the Madonna in his miraculous frescoes in Saronno's church. As the sittings progress, artist and model fall in love, and Simonetta reciprocates Luini's genius by creating a drinnk for her lover from the juice of almonds - the famous Amaretto di Saronno. As the frescoes and the liqueur near their completion, the couple's affair distils into a heady brew of religious scandal which threatens their love, and ultimately their lives. Who is the mysterious Jew with a golden hand? And how does a mute young soldier affect Simonetta's destiny?

Appetite

Author	: Philip Kazan
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2013-05-09
ISBN 10	: 9781409142812
Pages	: 352 pages
Rating	: 4.0/5 (428 users)

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Download or read book Appetite written by Philip Kazan and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-05-09 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Florence, 1466. A lust for life, a passion for power and a taste for adventure... In Florence, everyone has a passion. With 60,000 souls inside the city, crammed into a cobweb of clattering streets, countless alleys, towers, workshops, tanneries, cloisters, churches and burial grounds, they live their lives in the narrow world between the walls. Nino Latini knows that if you want to survive without losing yourself completely, then you've got to have a passion. But Nino's greatest gift will be his greatest curse. Nino can taste things that other people cannot. Every flavour, every ingredient comes alive for him as vividly as a painting and he puts his artistry to increasingly extravagant use. In an age of gluttony and conspicuous consumption, his unique talent leads him into danger. His desire for the beautiful Tessina Delmazza and his longing to create the perfect feast could prove deadly. Nino must flee Florence to save his life and if he ever wants to see his beloved again, he must entrust himself entirely to the tender mercies of fortune.

The Secret History of the World

Author	: Jonathan Black
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2013-05-30
ISBN 10	: 9780857383082
Pages	: 592 pages
Rating	: 4.5/5 (83 users)

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Download or read book The Secret History of the World written by Jonathan Black and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The complete history of the world, from the beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. Jonathan Black examines the end of the world and the coming of the Antichrist. Or is the Antichrist already here? How will he make himself known and what will become of the world when he does? Willl it be the end of Time? Having studied theology and learnt from initiates of all the great secret societies of the world, Jonathan Black has learned that it is possible to reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that hidden from our everyday commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and have been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. This book will leave you questioning every aspect of your life and spotting hidden messages in the very fabric of society and in life itself. It will open your mind to a new way of living and leave you questioning everything you have been taught - and everything you've taught your children.

The Unicorn's Secret

Author	: Steven Levy
Publisher	: Open Road Media
Release Date	: 2016-11-08
ISBN 10	: 9781504042130
Pages	: 352 pages
Rating	: 4.0/5 (421 users)

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Download or read book The Unicorn's Secret written by Steven Levy and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of Ira Einhorn, the Philadelphia antiwar crusader, environmental activist, and New Age guru with a murderous dark side. During the cultural shockwaves of the 1960s and ’70s, Ira Einhorn—nicknamed the “Unicorn”—was the leading radical voice for the antiwar movement at the University of Pennsylvania. At his side were such noted activists as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. A brilliantly articulate advocate for peace in a turbulent era, he rallied followers toward the growing antiestablishment causes of free love, drugs, and radical ecological reform. In 1979, when the mummified remains of his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, a Bryn Mawr flower child from Tyler, Texas, were found in a trunk in his apartment, Einhorn claimed a CIA frame-up. Incredibly, the network of influential friends, socialites, and powerful politicians he’d charmed and manipulated over the years supported him. Represented by renowned district attorney and future senator Arlen Specter, Einhorn was released on bail. But before trial, he fled the country to an idyllic town in the French wine region and disappeared. It would take more than twenty years—and two trials—to finally bring Einhorn to justice. Based on more than two years of research and 250 interviews, as well as the chilling private journals of Einhorn and Maddux, prize-winning journalist Steven Levy paints an astonishing and complicated portrait of a man motivated by both genius and rage. The basis for 1998 NBC television miniseries The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer, The Unicorn’s Secret is a “spellbinding sociological/true crime study,” revealing the dark and tragic dimensions of a man who defined an era, only to shatter its ideals (Publishers Weekly).

Secrets of the Code

Author	: Dan Burstein
Publisher	: Hachette UK
Release Date	: 2010-11-18
ISBN 10	: 9780297864899
Pages	: 592 pages
Rating	: 4.9/5 (648 users)

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Download or read book Secrets of the Code written by Dan Burstein and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-11-18 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unauthorised (but authoritative) guide to the mysteries behind the phenomenal bestseller THE DA VINCI CODE Readers of Dan Brown's extraordinary bestseller THE DA VINCI CODE are fascinated by the questions raised in the novel. Was Jesus actually married to Mary Magdalene? Was she one of his disciples and did she write her own gospel? Did they have a child together? Did some geniuses of art and science, people like Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton, belong to secret societies that had the most compelling insider information in history, and did Leonardo convey some of these ideas in The Last Supper and other paintings? SECRETS OF THE CODE is the definitive guide to the novel and provides the curious reader with authoritative explorations into the major themes within THE DA VINCI CODE.

The Poet Prince

Author	: Kathleen McGowan
Publisher	: Simon and Schuster
Release Date	: 2010-07-08
ISBN 10	: 9780857200167
Pages	: 416 pages
Rating	: 4.5/5 (1 users)

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Download or read book The Poet Prince written by Kathleen McGowan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-08 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third book in the Magdalene Line Trilogy takes Maureen to Florence, where she begins training in the secret teachings of The Order of the Holy Sepulcher. Under the guidance of her new teacher, Destino, she discovers the fascinating story of Lorenzo de Medici - the godfather of the Renaissance and the greatest patron of the arts in history. But Lorenzo's obsession was not with culture alone. Instead, he worked carefully to create a body of work which would preserve a series of ancient secrets - secrets too powerful and dangerous to be committed to writing. But Maureen's most explosive discovery affects the person closest to her, as she realizes that her lover, Berenger, shares an extraordinary legacy with Lorenzo de Medici. Both men were born under the auspices of a prophecy found in the early writing of the Bloodline - the prophecy of the Poet Prince. But as Berenger and Maureen explore the daunting task of filling Lorenzo's place in the 21st Century, they find themselves the subject of an ancient vendetta hell-bent on destroying the heresy and ending Maureen's life in the process.

Botticelli's Primavera

Author	: Jean Gillies
Publisher	: iUniverse
Release Date	: 2010
ISBN 10	: 9781450221610
Pages	: 248 pages
Rating	: 4.5/5 (216 users)

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Download or read book Botticelli's Primavera written by Jean Gillies and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2010 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Botticelli’s Muse

Author	: Dorah Blume
Publisher	: Juiceboxartists Press
Release Date	: 2017-07-21
ISBN 10	: 9780998131610
Pages	: 528 pages
Rating	: 4.9/5 (316 users)

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Download or read book Botticelli’s Muse written by Dorah Blume and published by Juiceboxartists Press. This book was released on 2017-07-21 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Botticelli’s Muse peels back layers of history to tell a fictionalized version of the life of Sandro Botticelli, his conflicts with the Medici family of Florence, and the woman at the heart of his paintings. In 1477, Botticelli is suddenly fired by his prestigious patron and friend Lorenzo de’ Medici. In the villa of his irritating new patron, the artist’s creative well runs dry—until the day he sees Floriana, a Jewish weaver imprisoned in his sister’s convent. But events threaten to keep his unlikely muse out of reach. So begins a tale of one of the art world’s most beloved paintings, La Primavera, as Sandro, a confirmed bachelor, and Floriana, a headstrong artist in her own right, enter into a turbulent relationship.

Kb's Tuscany and Umbria

Author	: Nicole Franchini
Publisher	: Karen Brown's Guides
Release Date	: 2006
ISBN 10	: 1933810130
Pages	: 280 pages
Rating	: 4.1/5 (3 users)

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Download or read book Kb's Tuscany and Umbria written by Nicole Franchini and published by Karen Brown's Guides. This book was released on 2006 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A regional guide to two of our favorite destinations: Tuscany and Umbria. An invaluable companion in planning your own vacation to this wonderful part of the world with its architectural treasures, historical cities, medieval hilltowns, vineyards and enchanting destinations. Features over 200 hotels, villas and bed & breakfasts-from affordable to decadent.