Book 2 Title!

I am so excited to be able to announce the title for my second historical novel, forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press. Drumroll, please! The title is:

The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence: A Story of Botticelli

I hope to be able to share a release date and description soon. And, quite frankly, I already can’t wait to see the cover for this one! In the meantime, I can tell you a bit about the title and how I arrived at it, though.

This is actually the third title the novel had – it had two working titles before I settled on this one. The protagonist/narrator of my novel, Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, was an actual historical figure, and she was considered the most beautiful woman in Florence in her day – so much so that men used to fight duels if someone else said another lady was more beautiful than she. So the title is literal in that sense, but what I also love about it is the darker underside that will become apparent in reading the novel. Simonetta often wonders what being the most beautiful woman in Florence means, and if, in the long run, it really puts her any further ahead in life than anyone else – or if it even puts her further behind, in some ways. The novel deals with questions of female beauty and objectification, and so the title reflects that side of it too.

I can’t wait to share more information about this book with you, and I truly can’t wait until it’s out in the world!