Author(s): Jeanne Kalogridis

Fiction.

This is an intricately woven tale of betrayal, love and loss, which unravels the mysteries surrounding da Vinci's most famous portrait.

It is set in April 26, 1478. Giuliano de Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the head of the powerful Florentine Medici family, is assassinated. Ten years later, a young Lisa Gherardini listens to the story of Giuliano's death, unaware of the significance it holds for her future. Drawn into the Medici circle by her passion for the Arts, Lisa falls in love with Giuliano the younger; but when the couple are forced apart, she finds comfort with the Medici's most luminescent friend: da Vinci. Against the turbulent backdrop of Savonarola's Florence the two become conspirators and eventually each other's saviours in this parallel love story of infinite twists. First published 2006.