Grazia dei Rossi

Set in sixteenth-century Istanbul during the illustrious Ottoman Empire, The Legacy of Grazia dei Rossi chronicles the fate of Grazias son, Danilo, and his forbidden love affair with Princess Saida, the Sultans beloved daughter.Judah del Medigo, Jewish physician to the Sultan at the Ottoman court and husband of Grazia dei Rossi, has been misinformed that his son, Danilo, perished at sea on the way to Istanbul. When the two are eventually reunited, Judahs first thought is to resign from the Sultans service to devote himself to his sons recovery. But the Great Suleiman is not about to give up his valued Chief Body Physician. A ruler accustomed to getting his way, the Sultan proposes a bargain: he offers the boy a place in the harem school for royal children, plus the services of his own mother as guardian while the doctor is absent during campaign season in Baghdad. It is an opportunity that Judah cannot deny his son.Danilo is assigned as his tutor the princess Saida, the Sultans beloved daughter. At first the two resent each other deeply. But as Danilo and Saida approach adulthood they fall in love and begin a forbidden romance. Fate has decreed that Saida will marry a husband of the Sultans choosing, and Danilo will return to Italy to study medicine just as his father did. For a princess preparing for marriage, a dalliance with an unrelated male would cast a stain on the Sultans honour that could only be avenged by death . . .A tantalizing look at life in the Ottoman court, The Legacy of Grazia dei Rossi is a sweeping historical romance and the long-awaited follow-up to the international sensation The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi.

April, 1536. Danilo del Medigo arrives incognito in Venice from Istanbul, with two assassins from Suleiman the Magnificent's court hot on his trail. Western civilization is in crisis. Jews and "New Christians" - people whose families had converted from Judaism - are threatened with expulsion, imprisonment, and death. Danilo seeks refuge in the Venetian Ghetto, and promptly falls in love with the beautiful Miriamne Hazan. But soon Danilo is blackmailed into becoming a spy for Venice, which means he must abandon Miriamne in order to save her. The only safe place for him is in plain sight, so he embeds himself with an itinerant group of actors travelling the Italian countryside. With assassins close behind and avalanches along his path, Danilo, together with a cast of libertines, courtesans, and fellow spies, witnesses the agony of the Renaissance: Protestants warring with Catholics, the Inquisition threatening everyone, and the Ottoman Empire poised to invade the heart of Europe. As fear and panic spread throughout the Jewish communities of Italy, a promise of a new lifeline emerges, and Danilo may be the only one who can ensure it. Will Danilo help rescue his fellow Jews, find his father, and be reunited with Miriamne Hazan?

An exclusive eBook bundle of all three novels in Jacqueline Park's bestselling Grazia dei Rossi trilogy, a sweeping saga of intrigue and romance set during the Italian Renaissance. The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi introduces Grazia, private secretary to the world-renowned Isabella d'Este, daughter of an eminent Jewish banker, the wife of the Pope's Jewish physician, and the lover of a Christian prince. In a "secret book," written as a legacy for her son, she records her struggles to choose between the seductions of the Christian world and a return to the family, traditions, and duties to her Jewish roots. As she re-creates Renaissance Italy in captivating detail, Jacqueline Park gives us a timeless portrait of a brave and brilliant woman trapped in an unforgiving, inflexible society. The stunning sequel set in sixteenth-century Istanbul during the illustrious Ottoman Empire, The Legacy of Grazia dei Rossi chronicles the fate of Grazia dei Rossi's son, Danilo del Medigo, and his forbidden love affair with Princess Saida, the Sultan's beloved daughter. Son of Two Fathers, the long-awaited conclusion to the trilogy, follows Danilo del Medigo as he makes his return to the great Republic of Venice at the height of European Christendom's persecution of the Jews, with two assassins from Suleiman the Magnificent's court hot on his trail.