In Renaissance Florence, a young painter visits the Medici palace, seemingly to paint Lorenzo de Medici's beautiful daughter . . .
In present day Italy, Maria, a young English girl, is drawn to an unremarkable painting, but soon discovers an extraordinary picture underneath . . .
Why is the painter secretly armed with a dagger? What dark event ties him to the Medicis' bloody past? Centuries later, as more and more of the true painting is revealed, and Maria watches her family drawn under its dark influence, she is determined to uncover an ancient mystery of love, power and bitter feuds which still burns in the present . . .
Matt Chamings beautifully entwines Renaissance and contemporary Italy in this intriguing and moving story.
