The Rome Affair

Author: Karen Swan
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1760553468
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 443

Book Description
The glamorous capital city of Italy is brought to startling life in The Rome Affair, a compelling summer novel by Karen Swan. 1974 and Elena Damiani lives a gilded life. Born to wealth and a noted beauty, no door is closed to her, no man can resist her. At twenty-six, she is already onto her third husband when she meets her love match. But he is the one man she can never have, and all the beauty and money in the world can't change it. 2017 and Francesca Hackett is living la dolce vita in Rome, leading tourist groups around the Eternal City and forgetting the ghosts she left behind in London. When she finds a stolen designer handbag in her dustbin and returns it, she is brought into the orbit of her grand neighbour who lives across the piazza - famed socialite Viscontessa Elena dei Damiani Pignatelli della Mirandola. Though the purse is stolen, Elena greets the return of the bag with exultation for it contains an unopened letter written by her husband on his deathbed, twelve years earlier. Mutually intrigued by each other, the two women agree to collaborate on a project, with Cesca interviewing Elena for her memoirs. As summer unfurls, Elena tells her sensational stories, leaving Cesca in her thrall. But when a priceless diamond ring found in an ancient tunnel below the city streets is ascribed to Elena, Cesca begins to suspect a shocking secret at the heart of Elena's life.

She Seduced Me

Author: Mark Tedesco
Publisher: Dixi Books
ISBN: 1913680045
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 163

Book Description
“I resisted, but she drew me back. I stayed away, but she beckoned me. I distanced myself, but she haunted me. I even rejected her but she did not abandon me...” This work of nonfiction is divided into chapters in which the reader experiences aspects of art, culture, history and the present through the eyes of the writer and of the inhabitants of Rome, past and present. Show Less She Seduced Me is that rare book in which the reader becomes part of a magical world in which places, monuments and artists come alive through their stories. In this case, however, that world is Rome and the reader becomes a participant in the ebb and flow of the city and gains insight into why so many have fallen in love with Rome despite its faults. The journey commences with the reader accompanying the author who, standing in front of Michelangelo’s Moses statue, mouth agape, almost hears the artist scream at his creation: “Speak!” From this an odyssey of wonder begins: what is the story behind the Trevi fountain, behind that rock in the middle of the Roman Forum, behind all those priests and nuns everywhere, behind everything one stumbles upon, wonders about and takes selfies in front of? The quest is to uncover those stories. Author and reader continue to explore the life in the piazzas, experience camaraderie with street performers, see history through all the senses, get lost in Rome, observe Americans and foreigners, discover unique places to eat, speak with Romans, explore the houses of Nero, Augustus and Livia, encounter Caravaggio and chats with expats. This work is a virtual tour through a magical city that educates and enthralls.

Mistress of Rome

Author: Kate Quinn
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101186631
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 482

Book Description
The first in an unforgettable historical saga from the New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Diamond Eye. “So gripping, your hands are glued to the book, and so vivid it burns itself into your mind’s eye and stays with you long after you turn the final page.”—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author First-century Rome: One young woman will hold the fate of an empire in her hands. Thea, a captive from Judaea, is a clever and determined survivor hiding behind a slave’s docile mask. Purchased as a toy for the spoiled heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea evades her mistress’s spite and hones a secret passion for music. But when Thea wins the love of Rome’s newest and most savage gladiator and dares to dream of a better life, the jealous Lepida tears the lovers apart and casts Thea out. Rome offers many ways for the resourceful to survive, and Thea remakes herself as a singer for the Eternal ’City’s glittering aristocrats. As she struggles for success and independence, her nightingale voice attracts a dangerous new admirer: the Emperor himself. But the passions of an all-powerful man come with a heavy price, and Thea finds herself fighting for both her soul and her destiny. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of Rome’s most powerful man lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor’s mistress.

The Domenichino Affair

Author: Elizabeth Cropper
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300109146
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
Ten years after completing his work The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, Bolognese painter Domenichino was accused by his rival Giovanni Lanfranco of stealing the idea for the painting from an altarpiece crafted by Lanfranco’s teacher, Agostino Carracci. The resulting scandal reverberated through the centuries, drawing responses by artists and critics from Poussin and Malvasia to Fuseli and Delacroix.Why was Domenichino attacked in this way when other related paintings--including Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin and Perugino’s painting of the same subject--aroused no such negative response? In this fast-paced book, Elizabeth Cropper investigates the Domenichino affair and addresses the perennial debate regarding the precise nature of originality and of imitation. She offers close readings of the paintings involved in the story, detailed analysis of attitudes toward imitation, emulation, and plagiarism, and a fascinating discussion of what Domenichino’s plight signifies in art history.

Mistress of the Vatican

Author: Eleanor Herman
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 006182741X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496

Book Description
Eleanor Herman, the talented author of the New York Times bestselling Sex with Kings and Sex with the Queen goes behind the sacred doors of the Catholic Church in Mistress of the Vatican, a scintillating biography of a powerful yet little-known woman whose remarkable story is ripe with secrets, sex, passion, and ambition. For almost four centuries this astonishing story of a woman’s absolute power over the Vatican has been successfully buried—until now.

The Gabinian Affair

Author: Ray Gleason
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
ISBN: 1630475564
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
A retired Roman soldier looks back on his early life and battlefield adventures fighting under Julius Caesar in this gripping fictional memoir. The Gabinian Affair is a memoir written by a retired Roman soldier, Gaius Marius Insubrecus, who served Caesar during his wars in Gaul. As a youth, Insubrecus is caught between two worlds: the heroic myths of his people, the Gahâél, and the harsh realities of their conqueror, Rome. Insubrecus tries to escape assassins sent after him from Rome by hiding in the Roman army, right at the time that the new governor, Gaius Julius Caesar, launches his legions into Gaul to stop an invasion by a fierce and ruthless tribe called the Helvetii. Insubrecus is plunged into a world of violence, intrigue and betrayal, as he tries to serve his new patron, Caesar, and to stay alive, while pursued by Roman cutthroats and Gallic warriors.

The Summer Without You

Author: Karen Swan
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447255208
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 576

Book Description
Rowena Tipton isn’t looking for a new life, just a new adventure, something to while away the months as her long-term boyfriend presses pause on their relationship before they become engaged. But when a chance encounter at a New York wedding leads to an audition for a coveted houseshare in The Hamptons – Manhattan’s elite beach scene – suddenly a new life is exactly what she’s got. Stretching before her is a summer with three eclectic housemates, long days on white sand ocean beaches and parties on gilded tennis courts. But high rewards bring high stakes and Rowena soon finds herself caught in the crossfire of a vicious intimidation campaign. Alone for the first time in her adult life, she has no-one to turn to but a stranger who is everything she doesn’t want - but possibly everything she needs. A gorgeously escapist summer read from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Christmas at Tiffany's Rowena Tipton isn’t looking for a new life, just a new adventure, something to while away the months as her long-term boyfriend presses pause on their relationship before they become engaged. But when a chance encounter at a New York wedding leads to an audition for a coveted houseshare in The Hamptons – Manhattan’s elite beach scene – suddenly a new life is exactly what she’s got. Stretching before her is a summer with three eclectic housemates, long days on white sand ocean beaches and parties on gilded tennis courts. But high rewards bring high stakes and Rowena soon finds herself caught in the crossfire of a vicious intimidation campaign. Alone for the first time in her adult life, she has no-one to turn to but a stranger who is everything she doesn’t want - but possibly everything she needs. A gorgeously escapist summer read from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Christmas at Tiffany's

The Spanish Promise

Author: Karen Swan
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1529006198
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
The Spanish Promise is a sizzling summer novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Swan, set in the vibrant streets of Madrid, for fans of Victoria Hislop and Santa Montefiore. One of Spain’s richest men is dying. But as he prepares his estate, his family is shocked to discover he is making plans to give away his wealth to a young woman they have never even heard of. Who is she and what hold does she have over him? Charlotte Fairfax is asked to travel to the troubled family’s home in Spain to get to the bottom of the mysterious bequest. It’s the week before her wedding but she is confident she has time – there’s only one reason an older man leaves his money to a beautiful woman, isn’t there? But in Madrid, things don’t go to plan when the woman denies knowing anything about the gift. Is she lying? Looking for clues, Charlotte digs into the prominent family’s history and unearths a dark and shocking past in which two people were torn apart by conflict. But now, their long-buried secrets are starting to reach into the present and Charlotte starts to wonder whether love does not need to forgive or forget in order to endure – but just needs two hearts to keep beating. 'The perfect summer read' - Hello! Enjoy more of Karen Swan's captivating summer novels with The Greek Escape and The Rome Affair.

Eating My Way Through Italy

Author: Elizabeth Minchilli
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250133041
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
"After a lifetime of living and eating in Rome, Elizabeth Minchilli is an expert on the city's cuisine. While she's proud to share everything she knows about Rome, she now wants to show her devoted readers that the rest of Italy is a culinary treasure trove just waiting to be explored. Far from being a monolithic gastronomic culture, each region of Italy offers its own specialties. While fava beans mean one thing in Rome, they mean an entirely different thing in Puglia. Risotto in a Roman trattoria? Don't even consider it. Visit Venice and not eat cichetti? Unthinkable. Eating My Way Through Italy, celebrates the differences in the world's favorite cuisine"--Provided by publisher.

The Greek Escape

Author: Karen Swan
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1509838120
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Book Description
Set on a lush Greek island, The Greek Escape by Karen Swan is a Sunday Times bestseller, and the perfect getaway for fans of Victoria Hislop and Santa Montefiore. Before every new beginning, there must be an ending . . . Running from heartbreak, Chloe Marston leaves her old life in London for a fresh start in New York. Working at a luxury concierge company, she makes other people’s lives run perfectly, even if her own has ground to a halt. But a terrible accident forces her to step into a new role, up close and personal with the company’s most esteemed and powerful clients. Charismatic Joe Lincoln is one of them and his every wish is her command, so when he asks her to find him a secluded holiday home in the Greek Islands, she sets about sourcing the perfect retreat. But when Tom, her ex, unexpectedly shows up in Manhattan and the stability of her new life is thrown off-balance again, she jumps at the chance to help Joe inspect the holiday house; escaping to Greece will give her the time and space to decide where her future truly lies. Tom is the man she has loved for so long but he has hurt her before – can she give him another chance? And as she draws closer to Joe, does she even want to? As magnetic as he is mysterious, there’s an undeniable chemistry between them that she can’t resist. But whatever her heart is telling her, she’s in over her head – another client’s wife has mysteriously disappeared and serious allegations about Joe threaten more than just her happiness. Who can she trust? And will Chloe uncover the truth in time? 'This irresistible story will sweep you right up into its pages and keep you there.' - Heat