Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Poison Keeper
- An Enthralling Historical Novel of Renaissance Italy (Italian Renaissance Series)
- Narrated by: Diana Croft
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
The Poison Keeper
Buy Now for £18.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
Summary
Naples, 1633. Aqua Tofana: One drop to heal. Three drops to kill.
Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.
Giulia must run for her life and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed and learns of the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.
The trouble is, Naples is in the grip of Domenico, the Duke’s brother, who controls the city with the "Camorra", the mafia. Worse, her aunt Isabetta, under his thrall, insists that she should be consort to him.
Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets and how vengeance can be overcome by courage and love.
"Her characters are so real they linger in the mind long after the book is back on the shelf." (Historical Novel Society)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Poison Keeper
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- The Curator
- 23-01-22
Entertaining
I hadn’t realised this was a book based on historical figures until I got to the author’s note at the end. It was a bit frustrating at that point not to hear about which characters were real and which invented etc but during the reading of the book it mattered not at all.
In general it’s a pretty pacy story of a one-woman murder industry knocking off unwanted, inconvenient, elderly or violent men with poison. Apparently the whole of Naples seems to know what she does for a living but thankfully the authorities are rather slow to catch on (or it would be a short book). The main characters are fine but never quite had me totally engaged but even so, it was entertaining and rattled along at a good pace.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful