The Palace

Warner Books, 2003. Fine. They say his palazzo is to be a magnificent work of art-a dazzling edifice to rival the most opulent in the city. Its owner is a stranger to Florence, a wealthy foreigner who dresses in black silk and practices the age-old se crets of alchemy. But the man who calls himself Francesco Ragoczy da San Ge rmano conceals his own dark secrets that have exiled him to a life of blood -filled torment and eternal wandering. Yet in the sensation-craving Estasia , cousin to Botticelli, San Germano has found a woman whose unquenchable pa ssions could exceed his own. And in the fanatical monk Savonarola, he has f ound a powerful enemy: a dangerously obsessed ascetic who exerts a hypnotic power over the citizens of Florence. Savonarola is embarked on a reign of terror that will not end until every thing of beauty is destroyed and every heretic burned at the stake. As the city becomes a hotbed of religious fer vor and escalating violence, San Germano is faced with an impossible choice that could doom those he loves forever...and transform his own existence b eyond recognition. Peopled by such unforgettable real-life figures as the de Medicis and Sandro Botticelli, THE PALACE evokes Renaissance Italy in all its dangerous glory, as it weaves a darkly erotic spell of love, power, obsession and seduction that will keep you in thrall until the stunning conclusion.