The second of three books that together make up a family saga of the Medici family, this volume revolves around the life of Lucrezia Turnabuoni, the young woman of aristocratic Florentine birth whom Piero de Medici wishes to make his wife. But Lucrezia has other dreams, which conflict with plans laid by the Medici founder and ruler of Florence, Cosimo de Medici, for his family, his bank and his city. It's a great book; although at heart it's a historical romance, there's a lot of interesting material here about the medici support for the arts, and some very dramatic renderings of the fall of Constantinople to the Turkish forces in 1453. ( )