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'La Serenissima - a beautiful but deadly city where corrupt aristocrats rule and everything, including love, has a price.
'Tallow is anything but a simple candlemaker and when she has everything taken away from her - friends, family, hope - all she can do to survive is rely on the Maleovellis. Casting aside the safety of her disguise, she becomes cold-hearted Tarlo, female courtesan and the toast of those who, if they knew her secret, would destroy her.
'But the intrigues of the Serenissian nobility are nothing against the larger forces moving within the world.
'And Tallow's enemies have a hidden asset: the one thing they know she cannot possibly resist.' (From the publisher's website.)
Dedication:
This one is for the beloved Sara (Douglass) Warneke, with whom I have shared the best of times and the worst. My dearest, most courageous, loyal and wittiest of friends – thank you, lovely lady, for being in my life. Long ago, Sara pushed me down the path, one she lovingly prepared for me and many others, and for that (and for so much more), I am forever grateful.
Epigraph (to part one):
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –
It gives a lovely light!
Edna St. Vincent Millay
'First Fig'
Epigraph (to part two):
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
