THE MAIDEN OF FLORENCE
A Renaissance #MeToo, based on real events, The Maiden of Florence tells the story of a twenty-year-old girl who was taken from a Dominican-run orphanage in Florence in 1584 to serve as a virility test for the heir to the dukedom of Mantua, enabling him to make a dynastic marriage with a Medici princess. After she had served her purpose, Giulia Albizzi was provided with a dowry and a husband found for her. Here her story is told for the first time from her point of view.
Years later, married and with a growing family, Giulia hopes she has finally escaped…
THE BALLAD OF MARY KEARNEY
“I am dead, my Mary; the man who loved you body and soul lies in some dishonorable grave.”In County Down, Ireland, in 1767, a nobleman secretly marries his servant, in defiance of law, class, and religion. Can their love survive tumultuous times?
An impoverished tenant farmer sends his seventeen-year-old daughter Mary into service at the home of his Ascendancy landlord. Viscount Kilkeel, the impulsive but idealistic son of Lord Goward, lately returned from the Grand Tour, cohabits openly there with his married mistress – but at least her presence means he is not distracted…
The Maiden of Florence is set in 16th Century Italy where women’s bodies could easily be bought, but the novel proves that the internal life of a woman can never be a part of that bargain. Immaculately researched and imagined, rich in period detail and emotionally compelling, The Maiden of Florence is a historical fiction tour-de-force.
Deborah Swift author of The Poison Keeper
Katherine Mezzacappa 