THE RETURN OF THE COURTESAN by Victoria Blake
As the beautiful and formidable Tullia Buffo, once the most desired courtesan of the age, returns home to Venice, she faces ruin. It’s 1576 and most have fled the plague ravaged city. But now Tullia must fight for her life and protect her secrets.
The gondolier Sebastiano, a keeper of secrets, has plied his trade on the canals of Venice his whole life, soaking up gossip and scandal. As a boy, he saved his family from destitution after the terrible wrong the painter Titan’s son did to his father. Now, with Titan dead and his son in Venice to claim his inheritance, the time has finally come for Sebastino’s revenge.
In the present day, events from centuries earlier suddenly engulf the lives of ordinary people as far distant as London and New York as they are touched by the enduring legacy of Tullia, a lost Titian masterpiece and the secrets of old Venice…
