In the early medieval kingdom of Venezia, gateway to the Silk Road, an undercurrent of intrigue affects the lives of the island dwellers as relentlessly as the sea tides. Against this backdrop, the daughter of a Lombard knight and an orphaned servant girl find friendship. Ademara, a novice of a convent, is unsatisfied with the life chosen for her. With the help of the spirited Lucilla, a foundling fostered to Lia and Toso, servants to the wealthy foreigner, Ximeno, the girls undertake what they think will be innocent escapades.
One winter’s eve, Ademara encounters Bartolo, who remembers nothing before he was brought to Venezia. On impulse, he gives her an ancient sea creature, a talisman. Then, unsavory characters, caring only to accumulate wealth and prestige, kidnap the girls and take them over the Adriatic Sea to the ancient kingdoms on the Illyrian coast to be sold as slaves. Can the girls evade their captors and avoid lives of servitude?
What this author said about working with us...
My goal for publishing my first book was to do the whole process locally in Oregon. It was not easy to find but through the experience of an artist/poet friend, I discovered Luminare Press, located in Eugene, Oregon. It was a match made in heaven. My novel takes place in the early medieval world of Venice and Central Asia along what is popularly known as the Silk Road. Luminare Press is the only business that understood the cultural context in which my novel is set. Luminare Press provided an editor that not only is excellent in his craft but that had no problems in understanding and questioning the many Italian and Venetian words in the text. I tell everyone I lucked out in ways I could have never imagined. I'm also thankful for the step-by-step, hand-holding offered to me from day one through to the day I received an actual physical book I could hold. Con gratitudine, Franca Franca Hernandez