The orphan of Florence

the long version

In this irresistible historical novel set in the turbulent world of the Medicis, a young woman finds herself driven from pick-pocketing to espionage when she meets a mysterious man. An orphan in Florence Giulia must choose between becoming a nun, or being married off to a man she doesn't love. Instead she escapes onto the streets of Florence, spending two years as a pickpocket. When she is caught, her victim offers her a business proposition. The man claims to be a cabalist, a student of Jewish mysticism and ritual magic, who works for the most powerful families in Florence-- and he is in need of an assistant. Her job is to smuggle his talismans throughout the city. When she is accused of the Magician's murder, Giulia must solve the mystery of the Magician's past-- and that of her own.