Amid the intrigue and danger of 18th-century Italy, a young woman becomes embroiled in romance and treachery with a rider in the Palio, the breathtaking horse race set in Siena.

Two sisters in 18th century Venice, abandoned as babies, grow up to different futures. One marries into a great aristocratic Venetian family, and the other becomes a violin virtuoso and Antonio Vivaldi's muse.

Esther Sarfati, known as Violante, becomes a lady-in-waiting to the illegitimate daughter of the Pope, Lucrezia Borgia, and falls in love with Lucrezia's brother, Cesare, as she finds herself drawn into the rivalry between the Borgia and Ferrara families.

Chiara Ravello is about to flee occupied Rome when she locks eyes with a woman being herded on to a truck with her family. Claiming the woman's son, Daniele, as her own nephew, Chiara demands his return; only as the trucks depart does she realize what she has done. She is twenty-seven, with a sister who needs her constant care, a hazardous journey ahead, and now a child in her charge. Several decades later, Chiara lives alone in Rome, a self-contained...