The Red Lily Crown: A Novel of Medici Florence

The Red Lily Crown: A Novel of Medici Florence

Elizabeth Loupas returns with her most ambitious historical novel yet, a story of intrigue, passion, and murder in the Medici Court...

April, 1574, Florence, Italy. Grand Duke Cosimo deâ€™ Medici lies dying. The city is paralyzed with dread, for the next man to wear the red lily crown will be Prince Francesco: despotic, dangerous, and obsessed with alchemy.

Chiara Nerini, the troubled daughter of an anti-Medici bookseller, sets out to save her starving family by selling her dead fatherâ€™s rare alchemical equipment to the prince. Instead she is trapped in his householdâ€”imprisoned and forcibly initiated as a virgin acolyte in Francescoâ€™s quest for power and immortality. Undaunted, she seizes her chance to pursue undreamed-of power of her own.

Witness to sensuous intrigues and brutal murder plots, Chiara seeks a safe path through the labyrinth of Medici tyranny and deception. Beside her walks the princeâ€™s mysterious English alchemist Ruanno, her friend and teacher, driven by his own dark goals. Can Chiara trust him to keep her secretsâ€¦even to love herâ€¦or will he prove to be her most treacherous enemy of all?

From the Trade Paperback edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Berkley
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2014-04-01
Format Kindle eBook

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