The Second Duchess - Tapa blanda

"Think The Other Boleyn Girl meets Rebecca" (C.S. Harris, author of the Sebastian St Cyr mystery series)

"The Second Duchess is one of those rare books that have everything; an engaging plot, well drawn characters, luxurious locations and a thrilling final denouement. This book will delight fans of historical fiction and offers something a little different from other books of the genre." (Bookbag)

"The historical mystery at the heart of this excellent novel kept me turning pages late into the night, even as I admonished myself to slow down and savour the feast for the senses laid out on each page. The story was compelling and the voice utterly intriguing" (Brenda Rickman Vantrease, author of The Heretic's Wife)

A dazzling tale of love, sumptuous splendour and conspiracy in the Italian Renaissance court of Ferrara, from the brilliant author of The Flower Reader.

Barbara of Austria is plain, quick-witted and sensible. She also desperately needs a husband, for unmarried at twenty-six, she is about to be packed off to a convent, like her sisters before her.

So it is that she seizes what seems to be her last chance - a proposal of marriage from Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Lucrezia Borgia's grandson, clever, handsome, powerful - and widely believed to have murdered his first wife, Lucrezia de Medici.

Barbara goes into her marriage clear-eyed, fascinated by her dangerous, enigmatic new husband - and increasingly - recklessly - driven to discover the truth about the death of his first duchess.