“In this beautiful novel, scholar Eva Jana Siroka evokes the sights, sounds, smells of Renaissance Italy as she explores the love of a powerful Catholic cardinal for a Jewish pharmacist’s daughter. Within a few pages the reader is involved in a credible love story and experiences Italy of 500 years ago as if it were today.”
—Philip F. O’Connor, Award-winning author and chair, Pulitzer Prize Jury for Fiction, 1995