The Phoenix of Florence

Sixteenth century Italy, deep in the Tuscan countryside, adolescent Onoria is the sole survivor of a family massacre. Abandoned and alone in the forest, she meets the leader of a fierce band of soldiers who, mistaking her for a boy, takes her under his wing. Determined never to be vulnerable ever again, Onoria reinvents herself as a mercenary, leaving behind the identity one man saw fit to soil and discovering soldier Celavini along the way. In Florence, ex-soldier now government law enforcer Celavini investigates two brutal murders that on first look seem to be crimes of passion. Convinced this hides a more sinister truth, Celavini digs further and is perturbed to discover a family heirloom from his past and a man using his dead brother's name. When it becomes clear that behind the murders lurks a menacing conspiracy, Celavini must revisit the turbulent past he shares with Onoria, reconciling himself to her so, together, they can lay the ghosts of their shared history to rest.