This story is set in 17th-century Florence. Gaetano Zummo is a skilled wax sculptor who creates characters that look real, often too naturalistic, The story is also beautiful, even though sad. a great pleasure to read. making them scary. The Grand Duke, Cosimo III de Medici, commissions him to create a unique work of art. His art and his relationship with a mysterious woman draw him into a web of political intrigue, secrecy, and personal turmoil. The story caught my attention because it was woven with references to actual facts about Cosimo III, his wife Marguerite-Louise d’Orléans, and the rest of the Medici clan that I had just read about. The story is also beautiful despite being sad. It was a great pleasure to read.
“Secrecy had many faces. If it was imposed on you, against your will, it could be a scourge – the bane of your existence. On the other hand, you might well seek it out. Nurture it. Rely on it. You might find life impossible without it. But there was a third kind of secrecy, which you carried unknowingly, like a disease, or like the hour of your death. Things could be kept from you, maybe for ever.”