The Colour Storm cover art

The Colour Storm

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Colour Storm

By: Damian Dibben
Narrated by: Ben Allen
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The new spellbinding and enchanting story from the internationally acclaimed author of Tomorrow.

Renaissance Venice is a furnace of ideas and ambition. Artists flock here, not just for wealth and fame, but for revolutionary colour. Yet artist Giorgione 'Zorzo' Barbarelli's career hangs in the balance. Competition is fierce, and his debts are piling up. When Zorzo hears a rumour of a mysterious, other-worldly new pigment, brought to Venice by the richest man in Europe, he sets out to acquire the colour and secure his name in history.

Winning a commission to paint a portrait of the man's wife, Sybille, Zorzo thinks he has found a way into the merchant's favour. Instead he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that stretches across Europe and a marriage coming apart inside one of the floating city's most illustrious palazzos.

As the water levels rise and the plague creeps ever closer, an increasingly desperate Zorzo isn't sure whom he can trust. Will Sybille prove to be the key to Zorzo's success, or the reason for his downfall?

Atmospheric and suspenseful, and filled with the famous artists of the era, The Colour Storm is an intoxicating story of art and ambition, love and obsession in Renaissance Venice—capturing a moment of artistic invention that echoes through the centuries.

©2022 Damian Dibben (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Renaissance Marriage Exciting Feel-Good Italy

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Poison Keeper cover art
The Eyes of the Queen cover art
The Fort cover art
Disobedient cover art
The Fascination cover art
The Venetian Game cover art
Widow's Welcome cover art
The Poison Machine cover art
The Seeker cover art
Speaks the Nightbird cover art
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys cover art
Midnight at Malabar House cover art
The Illusions cover art
The Medici Murders cover art

Critic reviews

"Addictive, ambitious and knife sharp. A compelling thriller and a celebration of art. Ravishing." (Rachel Joyce, best-selling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry)

"An epic tale of love, of courage, of hope." (Evening Standard)

"Bask in the brilliance." (The Mail on Sunday)

All stars
Most relevant
Completely unlike any book I've come across. Just magical & superbly narrated.
I recommend it unreservedly.

Most unusual book, utterly delightful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I don’t quite know why this didn’t work for me. It’s good but the pacing seems uneven and characters too sparsely sketched in placed. Also there Shane a law that says historical novels require an author’ note!

Just short of great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Excellent narration of an intriguing, well plotted story, peopled with the famous artists of the day. Loved every minute.

Renaissance Venice brought to vivid life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really enjoyed listening to this wonderful story by Damian Dibben. Ben Allen narrated it beautifully. Highly recommended.

Excellent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What a piece of lush storytelling.
I was transported through the wonders of old Venice, artist studio life, colour mixing and selecting, water life, and a touch of the inscrutable politics around offering and gaining a commission. What lengths an artist will go through to find a new colour!
Thoroughly recommended!
How on Earth can I find a follow up??

A masterpiece of art and artist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews