Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Tags: pope leo x

The Ruby Ring: A Novel
by Diane Haeger
From critically acclaimed historical novelist Diane Haeger comes The Ruby Ring , an unforgettable story of love, loss, and immortal genius . . . Rome, 1520. The Eternal City is in mourning. Raphael Sanzio, beloved painter and national hero, has died suddenly at the height of his fame. His body lies in state at the splendid marble Pantheon. At the nearby convent of Sant’Apollonia, a young woman comes to the... (more)
The Pope's Rhinoceros: A Novel
by Lawrence Norfolk
The Pope’s Rhinoceros is a vivid, antic, and picaresque novel spun around one of history’s most bizarre chapters: the sixteenth-century attempt to procure a rhinoceros as a bribe for Pope Leo X. In February 1516, a Portuguese ship sank off the coast of Italy. The Nostra Señora de Ajuda had sailed fourteen thousand miles from the Indian kingdom of Gujarat. Her mission: to bribe the "pleasure-loving Pope" into... (more)