Book
The Silkworm Keeper
Rome, 1638. Giulia Tofana has taken religious vows and hopes that convent life will offer a form of atonement, but disaster leaves her community in need of outside help. She turns to Fabio Pasello, whose old attachment to her has survived and who now works in the artistic circle of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Their reunion draws Giulia back into a world she intended to leave behind.
When a plot threatens Pope Urban VIII, Giulia’s reputation as a poisoner makes neutrality impossible. The novel contrasts the discipline of the convent with the ambition and spectacle of Baroque Rome, using Giulia’s divided loyalties to explore faith, desire, patronage and the dangerous proximity of art and politics at the papal court.
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