City of Silk

Bologna, 1575.

A talented seamstress

A powerful merchant

A fierce battle of wills

Elena Morandi has gained a fragile foothold in the workshop of a master tailor, despite the profession being officially barred to her as a woman. But then a powerful man from her past crosses her path and threatens everything she has worked for. Antonio della Fontana has every corner of the city in his pocket and, as Elena knows all too well, he abused his position of power at the Baraccano orphanage. Driven to fight for justice against a man seemingly above the law, Elena hatches a plan to get retribution for herself, a lost friend and those still prey to Fontana's abuses.

With sumptuous detail that brings the sights, sounds and textures of Renaissance Italy to vivid life, City of Silk is a breathtaking historical fiction debut. For readers of The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier and Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait. Stunning first novel from the winner of the inaugural Debut Writers Over 50 Award, plucked from over 1700 entries. The rich fabric of sixteenth-century Bologna comes to life as a young seamstress fights for justice and for her ambition to enter the male-dominated world of tailoring.