Aqua Tofana – One drop to heal. Three drops to kill.
Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell Giulia the hidden keys to her success. When Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.
Giulia must run for her life, and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her Aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed, and the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.
The trouble is, Naples is in the grip of Domenico, the Duke’s brother, who controls the city with the ‘Camorra’, the mafia. Worse, her Aunt Isabetta, under Domenico’s thrall, insists that she should be consort to him – the brother of the man she has vowed to kill.
Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets, and how even the darkest desires can be vanquished by courage and love.
‘Her characters so real they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf’ Historical Novel Society.
My Review
How can I like a protagonist who goes around selling poison to desperate women to kill their husbands, while at the same time trying to figure out how to kill the man who ordered the execution of her mother? I can understand Giulia's want for revenge, but the rest—I really should not like her, but she is just so likeable and her plight really tugged at my heartstrings.
I have never heard of Giulia Tofana before, nor am I that knowledgeable about Renaissance Italy, so I was both looking forward and fearing reading this book at the same time. I was looking forward to it because the blurb really intrigued me, I was fearing it because I have always been slightly intimidated by the Renaissance era, and, no, I have no idea why that is. However, as soon as I had read past chapter one I knew this novel was going to be unputdownable. The author has a fabulous way with words, it really felt as if I had fallen through time, and not once did I feel like a tourist, as I became completely immersed in the story.
This novel is good, and I mean really good. The kind of good that makes you stay up half the night reading it because there is no way you can put this book down and go to sleep without knowing how the story was going to end. The characters came across vividly in the telling and the historical setting was wonderfully depicted.
There are several plot twists in this novel, one of which I did not see coming at all, which added a new dimension to the characters. Which meant I came away from this novel liking characters that I did not think I would like. I was left wondering why certain characters did what they did. And I was also left with a strange sense of satisfaction that the antagonists got what was coming to them. Does that make me a bad person? I hope not!!
This is one of those sit-down and finish books. It really is a gem. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Buy this Book (and I really suggest that you do)!
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Deborah Swift
Deborah enjoys writing about ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and most of her novels have been published in reading group editions. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and is a mentor with The History Quill.
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Great review!!
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