Secrecy

• Book: Secrecy
• Location: Florence
• Author: Rupert Thomson

Review Author: an1081

The novel is set in 17th-century Florence, a claustrophobic place where “everything is forbidden and anything is possible”. It is to this city that Gaetano Zummo is invited by the Grand Duke, who requests him to make a life-size, waxwork woman, as a sort of replacement for his estranged wife. Zummo takes to the task, happy to have a place to stay and an income after having fled from his native Sicily. He even finds love with a mysterious woman. Soon enough however, Florence becomes a dangerous place for him and the people close to him.

I loved this book, its setting in mysterious, dark 17th-century Florence, its cleverly intertwined plotlines and its subtle characters. A real treat.

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