Renaissance Italy: Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke of Florence, grows up contentedly independent in the shadow of her siblings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia, barely a teenager, finds herself betrothed to the much older duke of Ferrara. Thrown into a tumultuous foreign court, she soon learns that her very survival depends upon producing an heir…and that everyone underestimates her temerity and resilience. Loosely based upon the real life Lucrezia de' Medici, this is a lush and captivating historical novel. (AG)