But when she discovers the brutal truth behind her alliance, Lucrezia is plunged into a perilous gambit that will require all her wits, cunning, and guile.

As Lucrezia’s father faces challenges from all sides, the threat of a French invasion forces him to marry her off to a powerful adversary. But Rome is seductive and dangerous: Alliances shift at a moment’s notice as Italy’s ruling dynasties strive to keep rivals at bay. Privileged and adored, Lucrezia yearns to escape her childhood and play a part in her family’s fortunes. Benefitting from their father’s elevation are the new pope’s illegitimate children-his rival sons, Cesare and Juan, and beautiful young daughter Lucrezia-each of whom assumes an exalted position in the papal court. With the ascension of the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI, a new era has dawned in Rome. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized fifteenth-century Renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Gortner effortlessly weaves history and drama in this captivating novel about one of the world’s most notorious families. For fans of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, bestselling author C.

The Vatican Princess by C.W. Gortner