The Rossetti Letter

Claire Donovan had always dreamed of visiting Venice, though not as a chaperone for a surly teenager. But she can't pass up the opportunity to complete her PhD on Alessandra Rossetti, a mysterious courtesan who wrote a secret letter to the Venetian Council warning of a Spanish plot to overthrow the Venetian Republic in 1619. She believes Alessandra is a heroine and harbors a secret hope that her findings will elevate the courtesan to a more prominent place in history.

When Claire learns that Andrew Kent, an arrogant Cambridge professor, is about to present a paper in Venice on the same subject but instead denouncing Alessandra as a co-conspirator to the Spanish, she's worried that all her years of research and her future in academia will be destroyed.

As Claire races around Venice trying to locate the documents that will reveal the courtesan's true motives, Alessandra's story comes to life with all the sensuality, political treachery and violence of 17th century Venice. Like her subject, Claire too starts to fall under the city's spell, courting a handsome Italian, matching wits with her academic adversary and bonding with her troubled young charge.

Blending facts and fiction, suspense and sensuality, and shifting effortlessly between past and present, Christi Phillip' debut novel is at once a love story, a mystery and an intriguing historical drama that unfolds in one of the world's oldest and most beautiful cities.

Christi Phillips is interested in European history and this has led her all over the continent. Her travel articles have appeared in newspapers and anthologies in the US and Canada. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Rossetti Letter is her first novel.

The Rossetti Letter
Simon and Schuster Australia
Author: Christi Phillips
ISBN: 9781921470066
Price: $22.95