Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter's abilities.

But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra's parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola's reactionary followers.

The novel brings alive Florence at its most dramatic period, in an absorbing story of love, art, religion, and power, through the passionate voice of Alessandra. I did not know much about the history of Florence but now I've learned what the original Bonfire of Vanity is about.

Mailing off to Rhonder who won it in my Two Years, 500 Registered, 300 Released celebration. Congrats and happy reading!

Thank you azuki! Congratulations again on your wonderful achievement!

Sending this to jumpingin as she requestd it in my RABCK offer.

Received this from Rhonder as part of a wonderful RABCK. Thank you!

This was a lovely read. Not only did I learn about a period in history I knew little about, but the story and the characters were compelling.

Dancesports has chosen this from the Global Village VBB, so I will be sending it to her this week.

Sent by surface mail to Dancesports, who chose it from the Global Village VBB. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Book has arrived safely - Thank you jumpingin.