Librarian Antonia Gray has fled England for northern Tuscany after an unhappy love affair to work on the archive of a 17th century Italian explorer, a member of a centuries-old aristocratic family. There she meets his descendent, Lorenzo Quattromani, rich, arrogant, handsome—and engaged to the beautiful and ruthless Giselle. The last thing Antonia wants is to fall in love, least of all with someone so dangerous. His engagement, though, is not what it seems, and Lorenzo breaks down Antonia’s resistance. But Giselle has other ideas.

Searching for the elusive criminals who left her famous father comatose after a bomb blast, cultural arts historian and quasi-archeologist, Amanda Oliver stumbles into a world of thugs, tomb robbers, obsessed archeologists and greedy collectors seeking a priceless Etruscan sarcophagus. Putty Face's footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me. His erratic breathing, panting like a thirsty animal, paralyzed me. I opened my mouth to protest but no sound came. In a split second, the pressure of his hands on my back told his intentions. He shoved hard. I pitched forward and the ground under my feet disappeared. My arms flailed clumsily when I grabbed out for something to stop my fall but met only air. His fierce thrust sped my descent and I tumbled uncontrollably, bouncing off bare rock outcroppings, each slam increasing my dizziness, bruising and weakening me. Mercifully, I blacked out.

Discover the wonders of this captivating region with Cadogan's classic guidebook: the medieval glories of Lucca and San Gimignano, the Renaissance charms and murky Medici decadence of Florence, the wine routes of Chianti, Siena's frenzied Palio horse race, the hill towns, Pisa's Leaning Tower-all set against Tuscany's golden landscapes, coastline and islands.

Six years ago Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer went to Italy to run three cooking schools. For two months they lived in the heart of Tuscany, in a beautiful villa nestled among the vineyards and fields south of Siena. They immersed themselves inTuscan culinary traditions. Central to the cuisine are olive oil, bread, tomatoes and wine, and grilling over a fire.The fresh and delicious recipes in this book are based on the local cuisine. The breathtaking photography by Simon Griffiths captures the food, culture, countryside and people of the region in a book that glows with the light of Tuscany.

Finnish-Swedish art historian Osvald Sirén (1879–1966) was one of the pioneers of Chinese art scholarship in the West. This biography focuses on his four major voyages to East Asia: 1918, 1921–23, 1929–30 and 1935. This was a pivotal period in Chinese archaeology, art studies and formation of Western collections of Chinese art. Sirén gained international renown as a scholar of Italian art, particularly with his books on Leonardo da Vinci and Giotto. But when he was almost 40 years old, he was captivated by Chinese art (paintings of Lohans in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston) to such an extent that he decided to start his career anew, in a way. He has left his mark in several fi elds in Chinese art studies: architecture, sculpture, painting and garden art. The study charts Sirén’s itineraries during his travels in Japan, Korea and China; it introduces the various people in those countries as well as in Europe and North America who defined the field in its early stages and were influential as collectors and dealers. It also explores the impact of theosophical ideas in his work.