Search - The Birth of Venus

Once I started reading this, I could hardly put it down -- though I had to in order to get work done! It is a amazing story of art, religion and love told in a time of great achievements and great turmoil. The heroine -- Alessandra Cecchi -- is a complex and courageous woman born centuries ahead of her time who, nonetheless, forges a life and something of a career while also finding love in ways that defy her times. Dunant's exquisite writing let me get under Alessandra's skin and feel her ambitions, desires, frustrations and fears while also seeing Florence in its heyday and in some of its direst hours. I have just one regret: I wish the book had never ended.

Interesting historical novel. Set in Renaissance Florence, it is a real page-turner.

Excellent!

Dunant writes wonderful historicaly inspired novels and this one is another wonderful example. Set in Renaissance Florence, this book weaves a wonderful tale while giving the reader a ot of historical information. It is an exciting tale woven with seduction and danger.