Florence, 1429.
With shrewd investment, strategic alliance and sly manipulation, the Medici family have climbed to the top of Florentine society. But their success has left a slew of bitter enemies in their wake, enemies who will stop at nothing to usurp their power.
When family patriarch Giovanni de Medici is struck down by a suspicious and fatal illness, he leaves the family's wealth and reputation in the hands of his sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, to protect by any means necessary.
But Florence is a nest of vipers, its noble families vying insidiously for supremacy. Cosimo and Lorenzo must draw out the serpents at its breast to secure their family's legacy, or lose everything.
First in an award-winning, bestselling quartet charting ten generations of rise to power.
Matteo Strukul was born in Padua in 1973 and has a Ph.D. in European law. His novels are published in twenty countries. He writes for the cultural section of 'Venerd di Repubblica' and lives with his wife in Padua, Berlin and Transylvania.
PRAISE FOR MATTEO STRUKUL:
'Matteo Strukul is one of the most important new voices in Italian crime fiction' Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Winner for The Bottoms.
'Strukul has a brilliant style and a rare imagination' Tim Willocks, bestselling author of Green River Rising.