Caterina was fifteen years old when she fell in love with a man much above her station. The daughter of a humble village apothecary, she was considered unmarriageable by her lover's wealthy and ambitious family. She had no recourse when they took her child away from her, leaving her bereft and rejected by society as a "fallen woman."

But Caterina had always kept a part of herself hidden from society. In defiance of what was expected for girls in the 15th century, her father had chosen to educate her—not only in medicinal arts, but in Greek philosophy, pagan mysticism, and the secret art of alchemy, all considered heretical by the church.

Now, to be close to her son, she would carry that deceit farther than she had ever imagined, taking up a new life under a dangerous new identity. In Florence at the height of Italy's cultural Renaissance, Caterina would discover undreamed-of opportunities and freedoms—and her gifted son, Leonardo, would change the world forever.

ROBIN MAXWELL is the acclaimed author of several books, including The Wild Irish, The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, The Queen's Bastard, and Virgin: Prelude to the Throne. She lives in Pioneertown, California.