What a marvelous idea for this enthralling novel! From Robert Browning's interior-monologue poem "My last duchess" as a jumping-off point, the author has fashioned a plausible mystery. Set in 16th century Ferrara, Italy, the novel tells how Barbara, Archduchess of Austria and second wife to Al...
She had no other choice—she couldn’t walk all the way to Florence without food or water and she’d have been easy pickings for bandits if she’d tried to steal a horse and ride alone. Her broken fingers turned purple and green and black and throbbed with every beat of her heart. She tried to wash t...
The queen’s penchant for Pierre de Chastelard burgeoned; at the same time Master Knox thundered from his pulpit about the sins of the court, the dancing, the music, the lustfulness, the abomination of the mass. The queen, defiant, spent all the more hours with Chastelard, setting his poetr...