Set at the heart of the treacherous political world of the Italian Renaissance, this is the masterful story of a young woman's battle for her very survival. Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the Duke Alfonso d'Este is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father to accept on her behalf ... From internationally bestselling author of "Hamnet".