AVAILABLE 4 MAY 2026
Before Thomas Cromwell could rule Henry VIII’s England, he first had to survive Machiavelli’s Florence.
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Thomas Cromwell is eighteen when he arrives in Florence, carrying little but the memory of war and the instinct to survive.
Taken into the household of the powerful Frescobaldi, he finds himself in a city balanced between republic and ruin, where Piero Soderini governs in the uneasy absence of the Medici, and where influence is measured not in titles alone, but in gold, information, and silence.
Under the watch of Francesco Frescobaldi, and in the orbit of Niccolò Machiavelli, he begins to understand that power is rarely declared, but quietly constructed through alliances, through deception, and through trade. For Florence’s wealth does not rest in its streets, but in its reach. From Rome to the Low Countries, from the Papal monopoly of alum to the court of King Henry VII of England, commerce binds the city to forces far beyond its walls. And where such wealth moves unseen, so too does danger.
Yet not all risks are counted in coin. As Cromwell is drawn deeper into the lives of those around him, loyalty begins to blur, and the cost of belonging reveals itself in ways he cannot easily control.
As the Italian Wars redraw the balance of Europe, Cromwell is pulled ever further into a network of ambition and secrecy, where survival demands more than obedience, and where every choice leaves its mark.
In Florence, nothing is ever simply bought or sold. And every debt must be paid in full.
CAROLINE ANGUS 