The Poison Keeper cover art

The Poison Keeper

An Enthralling Historical Novel of Renaissance Italy (Italian Renaissance Series)

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
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 Poison Keeper

By: Deborah Swift
Narrated by: Diana Croft
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

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

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

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)

©2021 Deborah Swift (P)2022 Deborah Swift Biographical Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Renaissance Italy Revenge Biography Renaissance Italy Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Sidroc the Dane: A Circle of Ceridwen Saga Story cover art
Gathering Storm cover art
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn cover art
Beyond the Moon cover art
One Perfect Summer cover art
The Altarpiece cover art
The Rules Upheld by No One cover art
The Kiss of the Concubine cover art
The Royal Game cover art
The Scarlet Kimono cover art
Legacy cover art
Trade Winds cover art
The Seven Sisters cover art
The Lost Letter cover art
Vortex Chronicles: The Complete Series cover art
The Red Hill cover art
All stars
Most relevant
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.

Entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
like the detail, of the time and place . showed a great amount of historical knowledge.

apothecary historical novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Whilst questionable about the authenticity it was an good story. Set me up for the second book!

Historical

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