The daughter of Siena

the long version

Amid the intrigue and danger of 18th-century Italy, a young woman becomes embroiled in romance and treachery with a rider in the Palio, the breathtaking horse race set in Siena. For her nineteenth birthday, Pia Tolomei, the most beautiful woman in Siena, was given a necklace and a husband ... It is 1723, on the eve of the Palio, the white-knuckle horse race that is the most important in Siena. Everyone will be watching, but for two of the noblewomen in the crowd, far more than the coveted prize is at stake. Headstrong Pia, once the greatest marriage prize in the city, is praying that her betrothed will be killed in the famously dangerous race, while the Governess of Siena, Duchess Violante Beatrix de' Medici, is at the center of a plot that threatens her very existence. When the trumpets sound, Pia finds herself drawn to a magnificent, unknown horseman, clad in raival's colors, who will tip the course of the race in a way that will bind them in a web of intrigue and passion.