Silk Merchant's Daughters

Set in Florence during the Renaissance, Bianca begins a new series featuring a beautiful silk merchant's daughter who's sold into marriage following a family scandal. But even after her cruel husband is murdered, Bianca knows love won't come easy - because her true love is Prince Amir, grandson of Mehmet the Conqueror.

New York Times bestselling author Bertrice Small continues her glorious historical-romance series featuring four sisters in Renaissance Florence who have anything but marriage on their minds. Giovanni Pietro d' Angelos selected his oldest daughter's husband, and the marriage proved to be a disaster. He offers to give his next oldest daughter, Francesca, more latitude in choosing a husband than her sister had. But the arrogant beauty has no desire to marry, and she drives every potential suitor away. The Duke of Terreno Boscoso seeks a wife for his heir, Rafaello, and invites Francesca, along with several other possible brides, to come meet him. Francesca's parents think it's a good match, but she refuses to consider it until her father makes her a promise: If he does not suit, you may return. She is therefore shocked when, not long after they meet, Rafaello chooses her as his bride and her parents agree to his proposal-- without her consent. Furious and feeling betrayed, Francesca flees into the woods and takes shelter at an inn. There, she earns her keep as a servant-- and meets an unlikely suitor who steals her heart. But the future remains uncertain for the runaway bride, who is still promised to another.

In this sweeping new series of Renaissance Italy, Bertrice Small does it again with all the passion and historical splendor that has captured the imagination of her legion of fans After her two elder sisters become the scandals of Florence, Lucianna Pietro d' Angelo is in the difficult position of finding a wealthy man who will have her for his wife. She has little choice but to accept the proposal of an aging bookseller-- a not entirely disagreeable union in which Lucianna comforts the dear man in his final years. When he passes away, she inherits his shop and, with it, a sizable fortune. Lucianna is content with comfortable widowhood-- until Robert Minton, Earl of Lisle, visits her bookshop. The Englishman is not only dashing and handsome-- he's a trusted courtier of Henry VII. The Pietro d' Angelos cannot deny the spark of attraction between their daughter and the earl, so they scheme to send her to London. There, Lucianna steps out of the shadow of her quiet Florentine life, pursuing a love of which she never dreamed and rising in London society all the way to court of the new Tudor king.