Cover images © Ray Lipscombe

The Rose of Florence (2023) and Hiding the Flame (2025)

My stories are set in Florence, Italy. If you have visited, you'll know why I fell in love with the city, her art, her architecture and her history. Stories of the Renaissance are well-documented, but where history ends, fiction begins, and that is the basis of my writing.

Currently, I have two books set in Florence in the 15th Century.

The first is The Rose of Florence (published Jan 2023, by Romaunce Ltd.), where we meet Lorenzo de' Medici (Il Magnifico), his brother Giuliano, Sandro Botticelli, the artist, and even Leonardo da Vinci makes an appearance. But they are not the stars of the show.

We follow Gianetta, a servant girl in the home of the Rosini family, where she lives with her friends and colleagues. We meet Eleonora, the accomplished cook, who also knows a thing or two about herbal medicines; Lucia (Eleonora’s apprentice), and Antonio, who has caught Lucia’s eye. Last but not least in the group is Matteo, another of the family’s staff. Gianetta and Matteo are happily in love, but they begin to realise that the politics of Renaissance Florence may disrupt their plans for a long and happy life together.

The Rosini family are wealthy textile merchants and great friends of the Medici family, who are often found dining at Palazzo Rosini. Even Botticelli comes to dinner on occasion. However, all is not well, as we find out when the two Medici brothers narrowly escape with their lives at the Palazzo Rosini. Is someone in the house part of a plot against them? When there is a more determined assassination attempt on their lives, everyone’s world is turned upside down, and we wonder if life will ever be the same again.

The second book, Hiding the Flame (published Dec 2025, by Romaunce Ltd), takes place around 18 years after The Rose. Some of the characters are still around, such as Eleonora and Volpe, and we spend more time with Sandro Botticelli. Of course, Florence was in turmoil once more, this time due to the influence of Girolamo Savonarola, a fiery Dominican preacher.

This story follows Gianetta and Matteo's daughter, Francesca, a woman trying to find her place in a man's world, a woman who yearns to paint, a woman who finds that some love is forbidden. Love and loyalty pull in different directions, but will she ever find happiness?

While my work is fiction, historical events provide a fascinating backdrop. Florence is a perfect setting for such work. Many of the landmarks that are mentioned in the stories are still standing to this day. It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to stand in those cobbled streets and believe that you are there at the same time as our characters. There are so many intriguing areas of life in Italy at that time: the ruthless politics; the importance of family; the emergence of great art, and also the everyday things like food and fashion. I thoroughly enjoy exploring all aspects of the life of a Renaissance Italian. Sometimes, I get so absorbed and wander down tangential roads, that I forget what I originally set out to find…and that I’m actually supposed to be writing about it!