Besides decades of romance between Bianca and the Medici prince, there were decades of meticulous experiments and documentations of her findings. Bianca was determined to find a cure for malaria, especially for her Prince Francesco, but also for the others in the world of Florence. The setbacks and frustrations and overt hostilitiy towards her as a woman in the 1500's, dabbling in 'brews' would have been enough to halt a person of lesser caliber, but not Bianca. She forged through relentlessly. I liked her strength in this aspect.
This work of historical fiction has been based on real pepole (as reflected in the main characters). Of course as this is fictional, there are the added 'salt and pepper seasonings'.
I mostly enjoyed the narrative but did find it somewhat draggy. Perhas there were too many descriptions. Overall, it felt long and drawn out. However, this could be the cleverness of the author to mirror the long years of Bianca's scientific work in progress. If so, it surely gave me, the reader, the 'feel' for that slow pace of the whole process she had had to work through. Either way, I felt impatient, waiting for the story to end.
This could be just me though. Other potential readers may find it thoroughly fascinating especially with the descriptions of the plants and leaves and distellations as Bianca created her medicines.
Just so you know, for those who are adverse to initmate bedroom scenes, there are plenty of them in this book. This is the one other caution I'd have for this narrative.
~ Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger ~
January 2026
Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent to me by NetGalley and the publisher.
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