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Marina Fiorato
Latest book: THE VENETIAN CONTRACT
DAUGHTER OF SIENAThe Palio: Siena’s famously dangerous and hard-fought horse race. A year of planning, ten riders, three circuits of the piazza – and all over in a single moment. But in this year of 1723, for two of the women watching, far more than the coveted prize is at stake. For Pia of the Tolomei, the most beautiful woman in Siena, the Palio is her last hope of escaping a violent marriage. For Violante de Medici, it marks the start of what her enemies intend to be her last month as Governess of the city. Isolated in her palace, surrounded by conspirators, she must find the courage to uncover a plot that threatens her very existence. The trumpets sound. And into the piazza rides an unknown horseman, clad in the colours of the Tower contrada. What he does during the race will not only change the lives of Pia and Violante, but alter the course of the Medici dynasty itself... Alive with colour and rich historical detail, Daughter of Siena is a story of treachery, courage and the power of love. Bibliography:THE VENETIAN CONTRACT (John Murray, 2012) AUTHORS
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arina
Fiorato is half-Venetian. She was born in Manchester and raised
in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a history graduate of Oxford University
and the University of Venice, where she specialized in the study
of Shakespeare’s plays as an historical source. After University
she studied art and since worked as an illustrator, actress and
film reviewer. She also designed tour visuals for rock bands including
U2 and the Rolling Stones. She was married on the Grand Canal
in Venice and lives in North London with her husband, son and
daughter.
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.