Bianca

by Robert Elegant

First published 1992

Amazon

3.5(9)

Bianca Cappello refuses the passive future expected of a young Venetian noblewoman and becomes entangled with Francesco de’ Medici, heir and later Grand Duke of Tuscany. Her rise from scandal and exile to the Florentine court is paralleled by the career of her fictional cousin Marco, a sea captain, senator and agent of the Venetian secret service whose missions connect family honour with the republic’s trade and war.

The novel recreates late Renaissance Venice and Medici Tuscany as political systems in which marriage, intelligence, commerce and beauty can all be exchanged for power. Bianca’s relationship with Francesco, the hostility of Ferdinando de’ Medici and the enduring rumours surrounding the couple’s deaths allow Elegant to turn a documented historical life into a story of ambition, romance and dynastic succession.