First published 2025
Twelve-year-old Leonardo da Vinci walks into Florence carrying nothing but his illegitimate birth and his burning desire to paint. The bastard son from the Tuscan hills finds a city where ambition and danger walk hand in hand. Francesco Salviati, another bastard marked by his dark skin, turns to the Church for the salvation society denies him. Above them both rises Lorenzo de' Medici, barely grown yet destined to command Europe's most powerful bank. Three young men, each marked as outsiders, each hungry for recognition in a city that both creates and destroys dreams. Their lives will intersect in ways that spill blood across Florence's ancient stones. Leonardo must navigate not only the treacherous world of Renaissance politics and art, but also his identity as a "florenzer" in a time when such men face persecution and death. This is the story of how genius takes root in hostile ground.
Genres: drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, coming-of-age, biographical-fiction
Vibes: ambitious, atmospheric, dark, gritty, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, outsider-protagonist, parallel-narratives
Setting: Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Period: Renaissance, 15th century
368 pages · Paperback · ONE
Content warnings: death, violence