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In the Company of the Courtesan

Sarah Dunant · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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❤️

The Rossetti Letter

Christi Phillips · 391 pages

A novel of seventeenth-century Venice and a modern woman's search for a courtesan's secret history.

VeniceHistorical FictionMultiple POVFemale Lead
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Bitter Greens

Kate Forsyth

VeniceMultiple POVHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Shadow of the Lion

Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Dave Freer · 825 pages

"Three writers (the others are Eric Flint and Dave Freer) collaborate on this massive concoction of alternate history, high fantasy, and historical romance set in the sixteenth-century Venice of an alternate world in which Catholicism is factionalized, the Hohenstauffens instead of the Habsburgs rule the Holy Roman Empire, magic works, and the grand duke of Lithuania is trying to use that magic ag

VeniceMultiple POVHistorical FictionPolitical Intrigue
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Daughter of Venice

Donna Jo Napoli · 274 pages

In 1592, Donata is a noble girl living in a palazzo on the Grand Canal. Girls of her class receive no education and rarely leave the palazzo. In a noble family, only one daughter and one son will be allowed to marry; Donata, like all younger daughters, will be sent to a convent. Donata longs to be tutored like her brothers and to see the Venice she has glimpsed only on the map. What is the world b

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale LeadCharacter-Driven
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Cry to Heaven

Anne Rice · 544 pages

In a sweeping saga of music and vengeance, the acclaimed author of The Vampire Chronicles draws readers into eighteenth-century Italy, bringing to life the decadence beneath the shimmering surface of Venice, the wild frivolity of Naples, and the magnetic terror of its shadow, Vesuvius. This is the story of the castrati, the exquisite and otherworldly sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voi

VeniceMultiple POVHistorical FictionCharacter-Driven
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Cross My Heart

Sasha Gould · 263 pages

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale LeadPolitical Intrigue
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City of Masks

Mary Hoffman · 344 pages

Lucien is very sick with cancer and struggles with his parents' worry every day. But each night, through a magical gift from his father, his mind is transported to an enchanting city, Bellezza, a parallel city to Venice of our world. In Bellezza, Lucien discovers that he is a Stravagante, a rare person able to travel through worlds while sleeping. Befriended by a local girl and protected by an

VeniceMultiple POVFemale LeadPolitical Intrigue
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The Fallen Blade

Jon Courtenay Grimwood · 419 pages

Venice, 1407. The city is at the height of its powers. In theory, Duke Marco commands, but Marco is a simpleton so his aunt and uncle rule in his stead. They seem all powerful, yet live in fear of assassins better than their own. On the night their world changes, Marco's young cousin prays in the family chapel for deliverance from a forced marriage. It is her misfortune to be alone when Mamluk pir

VeniceMultiple POVHistorical FictionPolitical Intrigue
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The Venetian Betrayal

Steve Berry · 600 pages

In 323 B.C.E, having conquered Persia, Alexander the Great set his sights on Arabia, then suddenly succumbed to a strange fever. Locating his final resting place--unknown to this day--remains a tantalizing goal for both archaeologists and treasure hunters. Now the quest for this coveted prize is about to heat up. And Cotton Malone--former U.S. Justice Department agent turned rare-book dealer--will

VeniceMultiple POVPolitical IntrigueHistorical Fiction
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The Passion

Jeanette Winterson · 160 pages

Jeanette Winterson’s novels have established her as one of the most important young writers in world literature. The Passion is perhaps her most highly acclaimed work, a modern classic that confirms her special claim on the novel. Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napol

VeniceMultiple POVHistorical Fiction
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Fools' Gold

Philippa Gregory · 366 pages

Tasked to expose a coin counterfeiting scheme, Luca and Isolde, whose romantic attraction continues to grow, travel to Venice in 1454, where they meet an alchemist who plans to create the Philosopher's Stone, a mystical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold and producing the elixir of life.

VeniceHistorical FictionMultiple POV
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The Floating Book

Michelle Lovric · 496 pages

Venice, 1468. Wendelin von Speyer has just arrived from Germany with the foundations of a cultural revolution: Gutenberg's movable type. Together with the young editor Bruno Uguccione and the seductive scribe Felice Feliciano, he starts the city's first printing press. While Bruno and Felice become entwined in an obsessive love triangle with a beautiful Dalmatian woman named Sosia, Wendelin tempts

VeniceHistorical FictionMultiple POV
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The Midwife of Venice

Roberta Rich · 329 pages

At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Shapeless matter, perhaps animal, floats to the surface of Rio di San Girolamo and hovers on its greasy waters. Through the mist rising from the canal the cries and grunts of foraging pigs echo. Seeping

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Book of Madness and Cures

Regina O'Melveny · 328 pages

Synopsis Expand/Collapse Synopsis Dr. Gabriella Mondini, a strong-willed, young Venetian woman, has followed her father in the path of medicine. She possesses a singleminded passion for the art of physick, even though, in 1590, the male-dominated establishment is reluctant to accept a woman doctor. So when her father disappears on a mysterious journey, Gabriella's own status in the Venetian me

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Stabat Mater

Tiziano Scarpa · 170 pages

Cecilia is a violinist who, during anguished sleepless nights, writes letters to the mother she never knew, haunted by her and hating her by turns. But things start to change when a new violin teacher arrives at the institute. The music of Vivaldi electrifies her and changes her attitude to life.

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Girl from Venice

Martin Cruz Smith · 320 pages

"The highly anticipated new standalone novel from Martin Cruz Smith, whom The Washington Post has declared "that uncommon phenomenon: a popular and well-regarded crime novelist who is also a writer of real distinction," The Girl from Venice is a suspenseful World War II love story set against the beauty, mystery, and danger of occupied Venice. Venice, 1945. The war may be waning, but the city know

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Venetian Mask

Rosalind Laker · 458 pages

Enduring friendships and long-held vendettas come alive against the splendor and decadence of eighteenth-century Venice.In 1775 Venice--known to outsiders as "the brothel of Europe"--the tradition of mask-wearing has allowed adultery and debauchery to flourish. But Marietta and Elena, two dear friends at the Ospedale della Pieta, a world-famous orphanage and music school for girls, know little of

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Death in the Floating City

Tasha Alexander · 336 pages

Entreated for help by a childhood nemesis who has been wrongly accused of murder, Lady Emily launches an investigation in Venice that takes her from elegant palazzi to slums, libraries, and bordellos before she links the crime to a centuries-old puzzle.

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Glassblower of Murano

Marina Fiorato · 348 pages

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Venom

Fiona Paul

In Renaissance Venice, orphaned Cassandra Caravello is one of the elite but feels trapped in the city of water until she stumbles upon a murdered woman and is drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, grave robbers, and secret societies, guided by Falco, a mysterious and alluring artist.

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Vivaldi's Virgins

Barbara Quick · 294 pages

In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi—known as the Red Priest of Venice—is maestro and compose

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Winterwood

Dorothy Eden · 256 pages

Pursued by a scandalous trial that rocked London society, Lavinia Hurst has escaped, penniless, to Venice. There she becomes acquainted with the Meryons - Daniel, the handsome head of the family to whom she's immediately drawn, his vicious wife, their daughter who was crippled by a tragic accident, and the great-aunt - an ancient woman of enormous wealth who is near death. The deeply troubled girl

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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Inamorata

Megan Chance · 408 pages

American artist Joseph Hannigan and his sister, Sophie, have arrived in nineteenth-century Venice with the goal of finding a wealthy patron to support Joseph's work. When Joseph's talent attracts the attention of Odile Leon, a celebrated muse and courtesan, Sophie must discover Odile's dark secret before Joseph falls under her spell and sacrifices everything for eternal fame.

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead
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The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi's Venice

Laurel Corona · 389 pages

Dans l'orphelinat de la Pietà, à Venise, Vivaldi remarque un jour Maddalena, une jolie jeune fille exceptionnellement douée pour le violon. L'amitié amoureuse, pleine de pudeur, qui naîtra entre eux ne s'altérera pas au fil des ans.--[Memento].

VeniceHistorical FictionFemale Lead




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