Isabelle d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, born into privilege and the political and artistic turbulence of Renaissance Italy, is a stunning black-eyed blond and an art lover and collector. Worldly and ambitious, she has never envied her less attractive sister, the spirited but naïve Beatrice, until, by a quirk of fate, Beatrice is betrothed to the future Duke of Milan. Although he is more than twice their age, openly lives with...

And what a stew it is. Here are some of the ingredients: Our heroine, Nuala Anne McGrail, in her guise as international singing star, accompanied by her spear-carrying husband, Dermot Coyne, is off to a major music festival in Milan, where they meet Seamus Costelloe, a Chicago Irish macher, and his family. Seamus is no better than he should be, and in fact the suspicion is that he's very bad indeed, but softhearted Nuala sees the sign of death

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