Financiers of kings, godfathers of the Renaissance, arbiters of peace or war: Emperors in all but name. The first instalment in a trilogy charting the rise of Medici family as they become Masters of Florence.

Florence, 1429.

With shrewd investment, strategic alliance and sly manipulation, the Medici family have climbed to the top of Florentine society. But their success has left a slew of bitter enemies in their wake, enemies who will stop at nothing to usurp their power.

When family patriarch Giovanni de Medici is struck down by a suspicious and fatal illness, he leaves the family's wealth and reputation in the hands of his sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, to protect by any means necessary.

But Florence is a nest of vipers, its noble families vying insidiously for supremacy. Cosimo and Lorenzo must draw out the serpents at its breast to secure their family's legacy, or lose everything.

First in an award-winning, bestselling quartet charting ten generations of rise to power.