A sweeping, intense historical thriller starring two of the great minds of Renaissance Italy: Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci. Based on a real historical mystery, and involving serial murder and a gruesome cat and mouse game at the highest levels of the Church -- it was the era of the infamous Borgias -- The Malice of Fortuneis a delicious treat for fans of Umberto Eco, Sarah Dunant, and Elizabeth Kostova.This brilliant novel is an epic tale exploring the...

"A thrilling whodunit" as Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli join forces to find a serial killer in this historical thriller ( Entertainment Weekly ).A beloved son of the House of Borgia is brutally murdered just as the controversial noble family is about to consolidate power, followed by a string of ruthless killings that require no less than the brilliant minds of Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo...

"A well-researched, fascinating story of two young women who had the power to change history, and did. . . . You won't want to put this one down." —Jean M. Auel, bestselling author of The Clan of the Cave BearWedded at the age of fifteen to faithless Lodovico il Moro, Beatrice d'Este finds comfort in her closeness with her cousin, Isabella of Aragonia, the Duchess of Milan. But when Beatrice gives birth to a male heir, her status is eleva...

Historical fiction that "memorably evokes the panoply, wars, plots, wealth . . . in the 11th-century Byzantine empire. . . . Enjoyable, suspenseful reading" ( Library Journal ).Estranged from his native Norway, Viking prince Haraldr Sigurdarson seeks his fortune in the Goddess City of Constantinople. Joining the mercenaries protecting the Byzantine empire, Haraldr soon wins the trust of ailing Emperor Michael, ambitious Em...

Here is the world's most famous master plan for seizing and holding power.Astonishing in its candor, The Prince even today remains a disturbingly realistic and prophetic work on what it takes to be a prince . . . a king . . . a president. When, in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in his beloved Florence, he resolved to set down a treatise on leadership that was practical, not idealistic. In The Prince what he envisioned would be unencum...

Teaching English for Tourism initiates a sustained academic discussion on the teaching and learning of English to tourism professionals, or to students who aspire to build a career in the tourism industry. Responding to a gap in the field, this is the first book of its kind to explore the implications of research in English for tourism (EfT) within the field of English for specific purposes.This edited volume brings together teachers and researchers of EfT from diverse nat...

Dr. Gabriella Mondini, a strong-willed, young Venetian woman, has followed her father in the path of medicine. She possesses a singleminded passion for the art of physick, even though, in 1590, the male-dominated establishment is reluctant to accept a woman doctor. So when her father disappears on a mysterious journey, Gabriella's own status in the Venetian medical society is threatened. Her father has left clues -- beautiful, thoughtful, sometimes torrid, and often enigmatic letters from ...

In the latest Commissario Alec Blume novel, our hero is called in by old friend magistrate Principe to "shadow" an investigation into the attempted murder of a former fascist terrorist responsible for a public bombing thirty years earlier. This investigation is adjacent to another: the murder of a young woman on the university campus of Rome. The apparent link between these two crimes is an articulate, learned, and thoroughly crazy professor called Pitagora, who teaches both literature and...

One of The Wall Street Journal’sTen Best Mysteries of the Year“Amazing...This is a series for the ages, it’s so spectacular.”—Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl1846: In New York City, slave catching isn’t just legal—it’s law enforcement.Six months after the formation of the NYPD, its most reluctant and talented officer, Timothy Wilde, learns of the gruesome underworld of lies a...

The New York Times–bestselling author of the Commissario Guido Brunetti series takes readers beyond the Venice police force in her first standalone novel.Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she's had to leave home to pursue her career. With a doctorate in baroque opera from Vienna, she lands in Manchester, England. Manchester, however, is no Venice. When Caterina gets word of a position back home, she jumps at the opportunit...

"A superbly researched and beautifully crafted historical mystery" about an estranged father and son and a murder in an early American Shaker community ( Toronto Globe & Mail).Winner, Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel CompetitionFive years ago, while William Rees was still recovering from his stint as a Revolutionary War soldier, his beloved wife died. Devastated, Rees left his son, David, in his sister's ca...

The Stranger’s Child is Alan Hollinghurst’s masterpiece, the book that cements his position as one of the finest novelists of our time. In its scope, intelligence and elegance.Sixteen-year-old Daphne Sawle is reading Tennyson in a hammock in the garden of Two Acres, the family home in suburban London. Her brother George arrives to visit with his Cambridge friend Cecil Valance, a handsome, assured and sometimes outrageous young man with a burgeoning reputation as a ...