A crime caper travelling around Italy. When Luciana is dismissed, without payment, as the model for Botticelli's’ Primavera she decides to claim her earnings by stealing a smaller version of the painting but soon discovers she has stolen something so valuable her life is now under threat. Luciana then finds herself in a race against time to figure out the mysteries of the painting before she gets killed. An enjoyable romp of a novel, fast paced and packed with wonderful characters.
Gloriously fresh and vivid, with a deliciously irreverant heroine, The Botticelli Secret is Marina Fiorato’s most ambitious achievement to date. When Luciana Vetra is asked to pose for a painter friend, she doesn’t mind serving as the model for the central figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli’s masterpiece Primavera. But when the artist dismisses her without payment, she steals an unfinished version of the painting—only to find that someone is ready to kill her to get it back. As friends are murdered around her, Luciana turns to the one man who has never desired her beauty, novice librarian Brother Guido. Fleeing Venice together, Luciana and Guido race through the nine cities of Renaissance Italy, pursued by ruthless foes who are determined to keep them from decoding the painting’s secrets.
Marina Fiorato is the author of The Glassblower of Murano and The Madonna of the Almonds. Her novels have been published in over 14 countries around the world. She lives in Hampstead, London, with her husband and two children.
