Son of Two Fathers

April, 1536. Danilo del Medigo, son of Grazia dei Rossi, arrives incognito in Venice from Istanbul, with two assassins from Suleiman the Magnificent’s court hot on his trail. Western civilization is in mortal crisis. Fear and loathing are spreading everywhere. 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 spying for Venice and begins a dangerous double life, involving courtesans, libertines, and prostitutes. Again blackmailed, and pursued by killers, Danilo must abandon Miriamne to save her. He flees Venice, joining a troop of itinerant actors, and, with a fellow spy, actress Angelica Satti, he plunges into the agony of the Renaissance: the papacy in crisis, Protestants warring Catholics, France against the Holy Roman Empire, the Inquisition threatening everyone, and Suleiman the Magnificent poised to invade Italy and expand the Ottoman Empire into the heart of Europe. As panic spreads, Jewish converts must flee persecution or die. Will Danilo help rescue his fellow Jews, and will he be reunited with Miriamne Hazan?

The final volume in the Grazia dei Rossi Trilogy, Son of Two Fathers is a riveting and evocative historical novel set against the backdrop of the political unrest and intrigue of Renaissance Italy.